The Events of Olympus Resort: A Percy Jackson Fanfiction
by Fangirl4715
Summary: When Annabeth Chase arrives at Olympus Resort in sunny Los Angeles, she makes close friends and even meets Percy Jackson, a green-eyed pain who she can't help but fall for right off the bat. But what happens when, through a series of shocking events, Annabeth and Percy begin to realize that Olympus Resort may not be the utopia they originally thought it to be? Mortal AU. Percabeth.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Annabeth POV

I roll down the limousine window and am immediately hit with a burst of salty California air. It's hot out today, but nice at the same time. Not like the hot and mucky air that I'm used to back in San Fran. I guess LA really is as temperate as they say it is.

We drive by a couple of stores and boutiques, all selling dresses and jewelry and brightly colored T-shirts for tourists. I spare quick glances at the people on the streets, all of them going about their window shopping and grabbing their overly expensive morning coffees before heading off to work. To them it's probably just a normal day. But for me, today is the day that my summer will take a drastic turn. For better or for worse.

I'm startled out of my gaze when I hear the limousine's divider roll down.

"Approximately two more minutes before we arrive at Olympus Resort, Ms. Chase," my mom's driver says to me from the front seat.

"Thanks Argus," I say with a quick smile, turning back to the window.

We are almost at LA's world renowned _Olympus Resort_. I can already see the resort's grand structure peeking out from the edge of the coastline, it's gorgeous pillars and balconies standing out against the morning sun. I catch my breath. It's absolutely beautiful.

We drive downhill for a while until we reach these _incredible_ Roman style arches (sorry, I'm sort of a geek when it comes to architecture) and pull into a beautifully landscaped garden with red and white roses covering the property. The limo then comes to a stop near a colosseum-styled building that absolutely takes my breath away and I snap my seatbelt off, grabbing my purse from the seat beside me. Argus quickly gets out and opens the door for me before heading to the trunk to grab my bags.

I barely get in two steps toward the entrance before I notice my mom strutting down the steps, making her way towards me. She looks powerful and important as she walks, demanding the attention of everyone in her presence with nothing more than her strict posture and bold stance. She gives a quick wave to Argus and comes to a stop at the foot of the steps.

"Annabeth, my beautiful girl, how was your flight?"

I lean in to hug her, taking in the scent of her lavender shampoo as I do. "It was great mom, but you really didn't have to seat me in first class, coach would've been just fine." I spare a quick glance behind me. "And the limo was a little much."

"Oh don't be ridiculous Annabeth." My mom pulls out of the hug and begins to walk back towards the building. "You're lucky to have such resources at your disposal."

I roll my eyes and rush to keep up with my mom as she marches up the stairs, her heels clicking with every step.

My mom, Athena Chase is a famous architect who is known for her ancient Greek and Roman inspired architecture and of course, her long, wavy blond hair that is almost exactly like mine. Today she wears it up in a businesslike bun with an elegant white dress and black heels. I suddenly feel a little out of place with my messy blond curls pulled up in a high ponytail along with tattered jean shorts, black converse, and a light blue t-shirt. I am definitely underdressed for a fancy resort like this, but no way was I about to wear uncomfortable clothes for the plane ride.

When we reach the front of the building, Argus pulls open the door for us.

"Thank you Argus," my mom says as we step into the reception area.

The main building of the resort is a beautifully designed building that the resort likes to refer to as _The Colosseum _because of its striking resemblance to the real Colosseum in Rome. The whole Colosseum is a gentle white and the inside is incredibly open with wide windows and marble counters. Willowy curtains blow through the air as the gorgeous arched windows let in the ocean breeze.

Because my mother is one of the most famous architects in the world, she travels all the time for work which is why I only live with her in the summer. During the school year, I'm stuck living with my father Frederick, his stupid wife Helen, and my step brothers Bobby and Matthew in San Francisco. My mom lives in New York, which is where I usually spend my summers, however, this year is the grand opening of Olympus Resort, and since my mom is the architect, she decided that we would be spending our summer here in LA at the resort while it gets up and running so that I can enjoy the resort's facilities while she begins working on the resort's expansion plans.

"Okay hon," my mom says curling a strand of my hair behind my ear. "I have to get back to a board meeting. Will you be okay finding everything without me?"

There's a part of me that wants to reply to her by saying something like, _I've never had trouble finding my way without you before, what makes you think it would be a problem now? _But I resist the temptation and simply nod my head as she slips me my room key.

"Love you hon," my mom says to me with one last squeeze on my shoulder.

"Love you too mom," I reply, but she has already turned around and is walking away down a long hall of conference rooms and locked doors.

Story of my life.

I decide to take a look around the resort before I head off to my room, and I've got to say, it really is impressive. The beautifully arched windows let in sunlight every way you look, and multiple people in fancy looking suits and name tags have offered me drinks and appetizers. I walk down a couple of hallways and spot some cool restaurants and lounges. And I've only walked for a couple minutes before having seen an arcade, a bar, and a teen hang out area. Turn a corner, I tighten my ponytail, and quicken my pace, only to find myself in the most beautiful library I have ever seen. My mom has definitely been busy. Maybe this summer won't be so bad afterall.

I begin running my hands across the spines of some of my absolute favorites in the _classics _section. _To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby. _Oh my gods I am in literal heaven. I pull a couple of books that I've been waiting to read off of the shelves and take my stack over to a small sitting area over in the corner before losing myself in the pages of one of the novels.

It feels good to have a book in my hand again. This past school year absolutely kicked my ass in terms of how heavy my workload was, and I didn't have as much time for reading as I would have liked. So, I am hoping that being here at the resort, away from my dad's family and the stress of school, I will finally be able to take some time to get back to doing the things I like.

I must be sitting there, reading in the corner of the Colosseum Library for a half an hour or so before I am snapped back to reality by a harsh tap on my shoulder and an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

"Hello, are you deaf or something?"

The voice comes from a ridiculously gorgeous asian girl with perfect ringlets of black hair and beautiful brown eyes. She looks about my age and wears jean shorts and a bathing suit cover up over her bikini top.

I immediately begin searching around for something to use as a bookmark. "Shoot, I'm so sorry," I reply to her. "I was just reading, I must've not heard you."

I find loose piece of paper that'll work to mark my page for now, and stick it between the pages I had just been reading, before closing my book. The girl takes a seat across from me before sticking out her perfectly manicured hand for me to shake. A little weirded out, I hesitantly take it, and she introduces herself.

"I'm Drew. Drew Tanaka. I was just walking by and realized that I've never seen you before and wanted to come introduce myself." She leans in closer. "It can be hard making friends here when you don't come from money," she says, gesturing to my clothes.

I clench my fists. I should have been expecting this. Of course the teens here were going to be entitled snobs. This was _the_ Olympus Resort after all.

"Well, I'm Annabeth," I say to Drew, leaning forward with a stern glare. "And as much as I appreciate the gesture, I'd die lonely and friendless before I ever hung out with a spoiled bitch like you."

And with that, I stand up, grab my books, and head over to the front desk to check them out. I stick my head up and try to look as bold as my mother would as I walk away from Drew. I just hope that whatever old lady they have working here doesn't get mad at me for swearing in the library.

Once I arrive at the counter however, I am surprised to find a girl with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes working there. She looks about my age as well and wears leather from head to toe. It feels good to see another person in the resort who isn't dressed as if they are about to go to a dinner party on the beach.

"Damn girl!" she says looking at my stack of books. "What do you not understand about the concept of summer?"

I laugh as she begins scanning my books.

"Contrary to prior belief some people actually enjoy reading," I tell her.

"Nuh-uh. Not true," the girl says. "That's just a lie made up by the adults of the world to corrupt us into becoming brainwashed and easily controllable." She snorts. "The next thing you'll tell me is that some people actually enjoy school as well."

I laugh. "Well, if you're so against reading, how'd you end up working in a library?"

"Oh this isn't by choice. I may have gotten in a slight bit of trouble last week, and this is how my dumbass prick of a father is making me pay the price."

She slides the books back over to me. "I'm Thalia by the way."

"Annabeth," I say and shake her hand.

Thalia smiles and puts the book scanner back under the counter. "Oh, and don't worry about Drew. She's just another one of the entitled brats whose rich ass parents decided to purchase a timeshare here at the resort so that they can spend their summers here and make life miserable for the rest of us." Thalia quickly glances over to Drew who is viciously typing away on her phone and makes a sour face. "But, on the bright side, while Drew is incredibly annoying and will _not_ be easy to ignore, she is _really_ fun to mess around with."

I laugh. "Sounds like a blast."

"And not all of us are like that by the way. I've met some really cool people here over the past week. I can introduce you down by the pool later if you want? My shift ends in about two hours."

I grin at her. "Thank you, that would be really great. It's nice to know that some decent people exist here."

Thalia smiles. "No problem."

I give her one last wave before picking up my books and heading towards the door. This was going to be an interesting summer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Annabeth POV

I stand outside of my room gaping at the doorway. I cannot believe what I am seeing. At Olympus resort, all of the rooms are like their own little houses, and my room even has planters and patio furniture and everything. My mom really outdid herself. The resort is laid out almost like a little town. The Colosseum is in the center of everything and from there, there is a long road that goes to the entrance, where the Roman arches are. All of the rooms are in different little sections off of the main road and the rest of the places, like the spa, the tennis courts, and the party rooms, all surround the Colosseum. It's pretty awesome.

I step through the doorway and into my room which looks like a little apartment. Everything is either white or clear glass and the whole space is super modern looking. Straight ahead, there is a living room area that has a couch, tv, fireplace, and dining table, as well as a full size kitchen. On my right, there is a door that connects to a beautiful bedroom with a kingsize bed and a bathroom that is bigger than my whole bedroom back home. Then, to my left, just past the dining area, there is a sliding door that connects to this beautiful patio that has an ocean view and patio lights hanging down around the patio furniture. I've never stayed anywhere this fancy.

As much as I am loving my new room though, I really want to head down to the pool and continue exploring. Not to mention I have plans to meet Thalia, so I better get ready fast.

I quickly but my books down on the couch and and notice that all of my luggage has been brought up and placed at the foot of my bed. I begin to unpack and put my clothes into the closet before hopping into the shower. The shower feels good after the plane ride, and I work to wash the remaining oiliness out of my hair. When I'm done, I throw on a simple, black one piece that my mom bought for me last summer and slip on some sandals, jean shorts, and a light shirt before grabbing my skateboard and purse and heading out the door.

The path is shockingly smooth under my board as I head up towards the Colosseum, but I guess that makes sense considering that the paving is all new throughout the resort. On my way up, I pass families playing in the grassy areas, elderly couples taking walks, and groups of friends messing around on the tennis courts. Olympus Resort really is a one of a kind place. I've never seen anywhere like it, and am eerily reminded of the utopias I read about in my novels as I pass by everything, the sun beating down on my skin.

I continue skating along the sidewalk and don't even realize how fast I'm going until I whip around a corner and out of nowhere, I run smack into someone else. He is skateboarding as well, and when we collide, both of our boards go flying in opposite directions. In a blur, we both all hard to the ground, and before I know it, I am laying right on top of him in the grass, the two of us a mess of limbs and shaky breath. Our faces are inches apart and as soon as we make eye contact, I feel my cheeks flush a hot red. I quickly scramble to get off him.

"Oh my gods, I am so sorry. Are you okay?" I ask him.

He laughs and combs his hand through his hair. "Yeah I'm all good."

"I don't know what I was thinking," I exclaim as I awkwardly attempt to collect the contents of my purse. "I totally should've looked where I was going before turning at that speed. Are you sure you're okay?"

I look over at him and suddenly wish I hadn't because _damn. _I don't think I'll ever be able to look away now. He has these striking green eyes and this tousled black hair that is messy, but in a cute way. He's wearing a light shirt, swim shorts, and one flip flop. I quickly realize that I am holding the other one in my hand and awkwardly hand it to him. "Here you go."

He laughs and takes the flip flop. "Thanks. And honestly, it's no big deal," he says, slipping his shoe back on and leaning towards me as I pick up the contents of my purse. "Here, let me help you with that."

"Oh you don't have to-"

He looks at me with a slight smile. "No, I insist."

He begins helping me pick up my stuff and put it back into my purse when, to my mortification, he grabs a handful of tampons, and as soon as he realizes what they are, quickly stuffs them into my purse, his cheeks turning violently red. _Oh my gods, kill me now_. Not only did I embarrass myself by a) knocking over and b) landing on top of this incredibly cute guy, but c) he also got the pleasure of picking up my tampons. At this point I am pretty much convinced that the universe hates me.

Once everything is back in my bag, we both stand and I am very aware of our hands brushing as he hands me my purse.

"Thank you for that," I start. "And again, I'm really sorry abou-"

"Really! Don't worry about it," he insists, laughing.

I smile and hold out my hand. "I'm Annabeth by the way."

He takes my hand. "Percy."

His hand feels sturdy and warm around mine, and when I realize that I have been holding the shake a little bit longer than I probably should, I quickly pull away, a blush, once again, making its way to my cheeks.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Percy," I say with a slight grin, cursing myself for my awkwardness as I start to turn away.

"It was uh- it was nice meeting you too," he says.

Once my face is turned away, I can't help but smile really wide. Man was he cute. I pick up my skateboard, and with one last wave in Percy's direction, I take off toward the Colosseum.

I am riding for a couple minutes more, and try to take in as much of the sunlight as I can as I do so. I honestly don't think I'll ever get used to the perfection of Los Angeles weather.

As I pull up through the arches and into the entryway, I can't stop thinking about Percy. And everytime my mind strays away from the thought of him for just one moment, his face pops up in my head again. Maybe it's the growing bruise on my side, or the scrape that is beginning to form on the side of my leg, but for whatever reason, I just can't seem to get that boy out of my head as I leave my skateboard in the bike rack and walk up the stairs to the lobby of the Colosseum.

Against my will, the feeling of his hand brushing mine keeps replaying in my mind and I can't help but get butterflies in my stomach when I think of how fucking cute his messy hair and carefree smile were. And don't even get me started on those eyes. _Ugh_. I need to snap out of it though. The last thing I need right now is to have some major crush on a guy who won't even feel the same way about me.

I walk straight through the archways of the lobby, and step outdoors to find myself right in the center of the Colosseum where there is this gigantic ass circular swimming pool surrounded by cabanas and poolside restaurants. I suddenly feel very out of place again, looking around at everyone in their designer bikinis and thousand dollar pool bags.

I subtly make my way over to an open cabana and put my purse down on one of the big lounge chairs that sits underneath it. I honestly feel like I am living in one of those commercials for the really fancy resorts in Fiji or the Bahamas or something. I mean, this place is absolutely gorgeous.

I look at my clock. It's about 1:00, and the sun is beating down pretty hard. I order an iced tea from one of the waiters who is coming around to help me cool down and pull a book out of my bag, thinking that a little bit of reading might help to get my mind off of Percy.

About an hour has passed when I finally look up to Thalia walking over with a couple of other girls about our age. I put my book down and stand up to greet them.

"Everyone, this is Annabeth, and Annabeth this is Piper, Reyna, and Hazel," Thalia says gesturing to each girl as she says their names.

Piper stands on Thalia's right and is this ridiculously pretty Native American girl with choppy dark hair and gorgeous eyes that seem to be changing color in the sunlight. Reyna stands to the left of Thalia and is also very pretty. She is a latina girl with long dark hair and is of average height but looks tall next to Hazel who is a shorter, light skin black girl with these amazingly beautiful golden curls.

"Nice to meet you guys," I say to them with a smile and shake each of their hands before starting to sit back down.

Thalia, Piper, Reyna, and Hazel follow my lead and settle into the other lounge chairs that rest in a circle under the Cabana. Reyna and Hazel both wear bikini tops with shorts while Piper is rocking this gorgeous red one piece.

"So, how long have you guys been here at the resort?" I ask them.

"Oh, I've only been here for a week," says Piper, "but the other girls have all been here for two."

"Two and a half," corrects Hazel. I let out a small laugh, and take a sip of my iced tea.

"Yeah, Hazel and Reyna know each other from school, and Piper and I know each other because she's dating my brother," Thalia explaims with a smirk and Piper blushes furiously.

"Okay, we aren't official yet Thals," Piper responds, but Thalia cuts her off.

"Yeah cause nothing says 'not official yet' like hanging out all the time and making out 24/7."

Piper jokingly smacks Thalia on the back of the head with one of the throw pillows, and Thalia smiles, exaggeratedly rubbing the back of her head. "Piper I am hurt, is that any way to treat your future sister in law?"

"Oh shut up," Piper jokes while the rest of us laugh.

Reyna is the first to pull us out of our giddy state. "So, Annabeth," she starts, "where do you live?"

I smirk. "San Francisco all the way baby."

"What no way," Reyna replies, "Hazel and I go to school up in San Fran."

Hazel smiles. "Small world."

"Not that small though," Piper chimes in. "Thals and I are New York gals," she explains to me.

"I'm actually really familiar with New York as well," I tell them. "My mom lives there, and we usually stay there over the summer. I'm only in LA this year because she has work here."

"Well shit," Thalia says laughing. "I guess it really is a small world then."

Reyna leans over to take a sip of my iced tea. "Annabeth, if you're free tomorrow night, the hotel is hosting a teen's night and we'd love it if you came with us."

"Yeah it'll be great," Thalia says sarcastically. "There'll be bad dancing, crappy music, and obnoxious snobs. Who could want anything else!"

"Oh don't listen to her," Hazel chimes in. "These things are always a lot of fun."

I think about it for a minute. I am a horrible dancer, and the last thing I want to do is get overly dressed up to be stuck in a room with a bunch of bratty teens for multiple hours, but Thalia and her friends seem really nice, and it's not everyday that you have an opportunity to make new friends on your first day in a new place. Plus, Percy might be there, and as much as I try to tell myself that I really don't care about where that boy may or may not be, I can't help but get a little bit excited at the prospect of a dance.

"Count me in," I say, and Hazel, Reyna, and Piper pump their fists while Thalia just grins and rolls her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Percy POV

I can't fucking stop thinking about Annabeth. It's like the moment we met is a video set on a loop in my mind. I was just riding my skateboard down the sidewalk (very slowly and cautiously of course) when out of nowhere comes this girl, flying around the corner. And next thing I know she's on top of me and I'm looking into these beautiful, stormy grey eyes, and her blonde curls are brushing across my face as she gets up and then suddenly I'm picking up her tampons, and now I can't stop thinking about her.

I feel like the fact that she (quite literally) came speeding into my life and knocked me off my feet is a metaphor for something, but considering the fact that I basically failed English, I really shouldn't start psychoanalyzing my life.

Right now I am sitting in my dad's temporary office in LA's Marine Biodiversity Center waiting for him to get out of some major conference. Typically, I wouldn't bother coming with him to this kind of thing because, man, it is boring AF here. But right now, my dad is giving a research pitch with a lot riding on its back and I think he needs the support, not to mention, I really want to know the outcome cause it'll kind of determine the rest of my summer.

Basically, my dad is some major marine biologist dude with a whole lot of research degrees and shit meaning that he pretty much just gets to do research about the ocean, record it, and get paid for it. Sounds pretty sweet if you ask me, but anyway, because my dad's job requires him to do a lot of different research projects, he gets to travel all over the world, which is why my mom has primary custody over me.

My mom and I live up in New York, and I absolutely love it there, except my mom just married this guy Paul, and I really think that they need some time to themselves which is why I agreed to spend the summer down here in LA with my dad when he asked me to come with him. Right now, he is in a meeting pitching his idea for some major environmental research project right along the coast of LA's beaches, and if the Los Angeles Marine Biodiversity Center decides to fund his research, then that means that I can stay with my dad here in LA for the rest of the summer while he continues his research, so I'm really hoping that this meeting goes well.

I have ADHD and get distracted very easily which is why I am currently spinning around in my dad's work chair and shooting rubberbands at the door trying and entertain myself while he's gone.

So basically, I have my ADHD to blame when my dad returns to his office and I accidentally hit him in the face with a rubber band when he opens the door.

I nearly fall out of the chair trying to stand up. "Dad! How'd it go?"

My dad's face lights up. "It went great Perce. They've decided to fund the whole thing and are even going to give me an extension if I end up needing it."

I let out a sigh of relief. "That is really great dad," I say as I begin to head for the door, ready to finally leave the confines of the office. I am a couple steps down the hallway when my dad calls after me.

"Hey Perce?"

I turn around. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you forgetting something? My office kind of looks like a rubber band bomb exploded."

I cringe. "Shoot sorry dad."

I quickly run back and scramble to pick up the rubber bands I left strewn across my dad's carpet, and once I am done, my dad and I make our way down to the parking garage and get in the car to head back to the resort.

As my dad starts the car, he looks over at me from the driver's seat. "Hey, so I was thinking that maybe tonight, you and I could go out to dinner at the resort to celebrate my new job?"

My face lights up. "Yeah totally," I say. "Can we go to Ambrosia?"

My dad smiles. "I don't see why not."

"Yes!" I shout and pump my fist.

Ambrosia is my favorite of the resort's restaurants. Even though it's pretty fancy and you have to dress up really nicely to go there, they have a dessert menu that is to die for and they make pasta that is almost godly it's so good.

"Dad, I've been meaning to ask, how long did Uncle Zeus say we have the room for?"

Zeus is my uncle on my dad's side and is a major businessman in the hotel industry. He owns Olympus Resort and has agreed to let my dad and me stay there free of charge while my dad is working in LA, but I was just wondering if that offer extends all the way till the end of summer now that my dad and I are going to be here for a while.

"I already worked it out with him," my dad says. "My brother says that we are welcome to stay as long as we would like.

I let out a sigh of relief.

Could this day get any better?

Once my dad and I arrive back at the resort, I ask him to drop me off at my cousins' room which is fairly close to the Colosseum and right next to my own room, which I am super happy about. Thalia and Jason are about a year apart and are Uncle Zeus's children which is why they also get to stay here at the resort for the whole summer. I honestly love them both so much, I mean, we've all been close our entire lives, I have no idea what I would do without them. We all have so much in common, all of us having grown up in New York and having had to deal with our dads being away all the time. I think that growing up with such similar lifestyles has only caused us to grow closer and closer over the years.

I walk up the pavement and knock hard on their door. I can hear Thalia's speaker blasting AC/DC from behind the door and can almost imagine Jason rolling his eyes at her taste in music.

Jason opens the door to let me in and seems ridiculously glad to have an excuse to turn down Thalia's music.

"Thals, Percy's here," Jason yells to the other room and Thalia walks into the room, soaking wet in her bathing suit.

"Hey Perce," Thalia says and grabs a towel off the rack by the door to dry herself off.

"Oh, did you go to the pool?" I ask her.

Thalia nods. "Went with Piper and some of the other girls. It was really nice out, you guys totally should've come."

"Couldn't've come even if I wanted to," I start. "My dad had that pitch today."

Jason sits down on the couch. "Oh how'd that go by the way?"

"Great," I tell him. "They accepted the offer which means I get to stay here with you guys for the rest of the summer."

"Oh wonderful," Thalia sarcastically jokes.

I laughingly push her on the couch and take a handful of chips from the bowl Jason is holding. It's almost four o'clock, and I am absolutely starving. I should probably grab something small to eat before I start getting ready for dinner. I walk over to the kitchen and pop some leftover chinese food that had been sitting on the counter into the microwave.

"Hey jason, do you by any chance have a tie that I could borrow tonight?" I ask him as I watch my chow mein spin around in the microwave. "I'm going out to dinner and I spilled hot sauce on mine."

Jason laughs and combs his light blonde hair out of the way of his glasses. "Yeah, no problem."

"Thanks man."

Thalia smirks. "Percy, I see you've been holding out on us. Who's the lucky lady?" She asks playfully.

I pull my food out of the microwave and sit down between her and Jason on the couch. "Jesus Thals, you're so nosy. I don't need the tie for a date, I'm just going out with my dad to celebrate him getting the job."

"Oh you're so much less exciting than I thought," Thalia says. "And my standards were pretty low. For once I thought you were actually acting on your interest in some girl rather than just ignoring your feelings like you usually do."

Against my will, a mental picture of Annabeth's grey eyes and the feeling of her blond curls brushing against my face pops into my mind, but I quickly push it away and take a bite of my food. Maybe I do suppress my feelings like Thals is saying I do, but it's always for a good reason. Tonight I have to focus on my dad. I quickly make a mental pact with myself to not think about Annabeth for the rest of the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Annabeth POV

Right when I get back to my room, I immediately peel off my bathing suit and return to the shower to try and attempt to rid my hair of chlorine before it turns green. I probably use up half my shampoo in the process, but it's free so I really don't care. When I'm done, I am about to change into my pajamas and watch netflix when I see a text from my mom that puts an end to my plans of having a relaxing night.

Hey Annabeth! We're having dinner at Ambrosia tonight at 6:00 with the rest of the resort board. I had my tailor leave a dress and shoes for you in your closet. Don't you even think about wearing anything else!

I sigh and head over to my closet to check out the dress. I really hope it isn't too bad.

When I open my closet door though, I am surprised to find that I actually really like the dress I see hanging there. It's this elegant, grey, flowy gown with a long V dip in the chest area, and when I look to the ground, I see that there is a pair of strappy grey heels to match.

I change into the dress and actually really like how it looks on me. It hugs my curves in a really nice way, and when I couple the dress with an elegant necklace and a pair of earrings, the accessories really accent my eyes. I'm not too fond of the shoes though. High heels have never really been my thing.

The last time I had decided to wear heels was my school's annual 'spring fling' my sophomore year when I made the mistake of trying to climb the bleachers during the pre-dance basketball game. The heels totally screwed me over and I ended up falling through the steps only to get my leg stuck. It was a pretty embarrassing night and I think it's safe to say that heels and I don't exactly have a great track record.

I quickly blow-dry my hair and decide to leave it hanging down for the night. Grabbing my purse and my skateboard, I open the front door to find one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. From where I stand just outside my room, there is this incredibly gorgeous sunset. The sky is a beautiful mess of vibrant colors all melting into the horizon of the ocean. It completely takes my breath away and I just have to stand there for a moment to soak it all in before I am able to collect myself. People who live in LA are incredibly lucky if they get to see sunsets like this every single night.

I reluctantly turn away from the view and lock the door to my room. It took longer than I thought it would to blowdry my hair, so I am already running late and really need to get a move on if I don't want to embarrass my mother in front of the resort board by being late.

However, I have just put my skateboard on the ground when I realize that I've got a small problem. There is no way in hell I'll ever be able to ride in these heels. I quickly run through my options in my head. I could always walk, but if I do that, I'll for sure be late to dinner, and that is _not_ an option. I could call the front desk at the Colosseum and have them send over someone to pick me up in a golf cart, but I'm afraid that will take too long as well. I finally just decide to put my shoes in my purse and ride barefoot. I'll just throw the heels on when I get there.

It's a little bit difficult stuffing the shoes into my already overfilled handbag, but as soon as I manage it, I'm off, whizzing past guests and tennis courts and golf carts until I finally arrive at the front steps of the Colosseum.

It is now dark out and I quickly check the time on my phone to see that I am ten minutes late. Shit. My mom is going to kill me. I throw by board onto the bike rack and take off running up the front steps and through the lobby to the elevator as fast as I can. People are looking at me like I am crazy but I honestly don't care. I press the call button on the elevator repeatedly. "Come on, come on, come on."

Finally I hear a ding and the doors click open. Oh thank gods.

I get in the elevator and hastily press the button for floor fifteen. My mom told me that she had decided to put the restaurant Ambrosia on one of the highest floors of the Colosseum because she felt that the nicest restaurant in the resort should have a great view overlooking the pool area, but right about now I'm getting mad at her for that decision. This elevator ride is taking way too long.

As soon as the doors open though, I have to stop to catch my breath for the second time tonight. The view is absolutely amazing. Ambrosia is a beautiful balcony restaurant that is covered in brightly lit candles and couples looking incredibly elegant, dining in their fanciest attire. Down below, the pool is lit up brilliantly, and the whole place looks just as I always imagined a real building in ancient Greece or ancient Rome would have looked all those centuries ago.

I rush out of the elevator and begin speed walking over to where I see my mom sitting down at a special table with a group of other people in suits and gowns. I duck and dodge waiters and waitresses carrying platters of food and glasses of champagne and am trying to quickly scootch my way through a narrow opening between two chairs when I see something that completely throws me off my guard. I have just noticed that one of the people at my mom's table is none other than Percy.

As soon as I see his face I gasp and stop so abruptly that a waiter who had been walking behind me rams right into my back and drops the large platter of drinks that he had been holding. The glasses shatter loudly against the ground and the restaurant goes silent as every head immediately turns in my direction. I cringe.

"Annabeth Chase!" my mother hisses between her teeth from her seat at the resort board's table. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

I whisper a quick sorry to the waiter who is now crouched over picking up pieces of glass and scurry over to the empty seat next to my mom, trying to avoid looking at Percy as the people in the restaurant begin resuming their meals. Just as I am about to sit down though, I notice a sharp pain in the ball of my right foot. I must've stepped on a piece of broken glass. I look down and notice that, to my horror, in all the haste, I had completely forgotten to put my shoes back on before I entered the building.

My mom follows my gaze and her eyes widen at the sight of my bare feet.

"Annabeth why in the world are you not wearing shoes!"

I quickly sit down in my seat and begin taking my shoes out of my bag and sliding them back onto my feet.

"I am so sorry mom, I just took them off because I couldn't ride with them on and if I hadn't taken them off, a golf cart would've taken too long and I didn't mean to bump into-"

"For the love of gods," my mom cuts me off, shaking her head. "Annabeth I would like you to meet Zeus, the owner of Olympus Resort, and his wife Hera," she says motioning to a man with greying hair and an expensive looking suit and a woman with dark hair and a sleeveless white dress who sit just across from us.

"Nice to meet you," I say to each of them as I shake their hands across the table, careful to avoid making eye contact with Percy who sits one man over from Zeus.

Once we are done making introductions, my mom immediately resumes her conversation with Zeus, Hera, and a couple of the other board members sitting nearby, discussing some expansion to the kitchen as I desperately try to ignore the growing pain in my right foot where the piece of glass had pierced my skin. Meanwhile, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid Percy, as we are sitting directly across from each other and happen to be at the end of the table, so there's really no one else to talk to besides each other.

"That was quite an entrance you made back there." From across the table, Percy breaks the ice and snickers.

I turn towards him rolling my eyes. "Gee thanks, I hadn't noticed."

"No I'm serious," Percy starts again. "I don't know which part I liked better, you running into the restaurant like a crazy person, you running into the waiter, or just the fact that you ran into one of the fanciest restaurants in LA with no shoes on."

I feel my cheeks go red with an embarrassed smile and put my hand up to my face. "Was it really that bad?"

Percy chuckles. "Nah, I'm just messing with you." But I can tell by the tone of his voice that he's totally lying just to make me feel better.

I quickly decide to set aside any embarrassment I still feel about my all too mortifying encounter with Percy earlier today and make up my mind to start a conversation in order to get my mind off of the growing pain in my foot.

"So, I'm assuming you're not a board member," I say to Percy, desperately trying to ignore how cute he looks in his suit and tie. "So I'm wondering, why exactly _are _you at a resort board meeting?" Percy laughs and combs his hand through his hair in a way that makes me want to just die inside.

"My dad and I were actually coming up here to celebrate a new job he just landed, but as soon as we got here, it turns out my Uncle Zeus was having dinner just a couple tables away with the board and insisted we join him."

My jaw drops. "Zeus is your uncle?"

"I know right, it's kind of weird," Percy says and takes a sip of his drink. "We get to stay here for free though, which is nice."

I laugh. "Yeah, I'd say. You only have unlimited access to one of the nicest resorts in the world." Percy smiles at that.

"And what about you, what does your mom do here at the resort,"' Percy asks me, a look of genuine interest on his face.

"Oh, she's the architect."

"The architect?" His eyes widen. "You mean she really designed all this?" Percy asks motioning around the restaurant.

I grin. "Down to the very floor you stand on." Percy shakes his head in amazement.

"Man, that's so cool."

I'm really glad he thinks so. Since before I can remember, I have always wanted to be an architect. Something about the idea of creating things that are made to last has always appealed to me and it makes me happy to see that there are other people who recognize architecture as something of value as well.

"So Annabeth," Percy starts. "Where are you from?"

I begin running my fingers along the rim of my water glass. "Well, I live in San Francisco with my Dad and my step-family throughout the year and then spend most summers with my mom. And I mean, I like it in San Fran, but I definitely don't think I'm going to be living there my whole life." I draw a line into the precipitation of my water glass. "What about you?"

Percy gets a warm look on his face. "I live up in New York with my mom and her husband, and I honestly love it there more than anything. I mean, I've never lived anywhere else before, but there's no doubt in my mind that New York's the place for me."

I smile at that. "Yeah, New York's pretty special. I'm up there with my mom a lot for her work, and I have this feeling that I'm probably going to live there when I'm older."

Percy smiles at that, and I look to my left over towards the balcony rail. The moon is shining bright over the other side of the Colosseum and it gives the whole place a kind of glow that sets a calm sort of mood over the restaurant. I'm really at peace right now and I make a silent wish that every night for the rest of the summer is as nice as tonight.

Percy and I continue talking for a while until it's time to order out meals. We both end up getting the Rigatoni, so at least I know he has good taste, and I completely lose track of time until all of a sudden, all the people at our table start getting up and putting their coats on. I quickly scramble to my feet and immediately regret it as a spark of pain shoots up my foot from where the glass is stuck.

Percy sees the look on my face and looks concerned. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I say, forcing a smile and start following the rest of the group towards the door, making sure to keep close to my mom, but every step is like, well, like walking on shards of glass.

Percy walks behind me as we weave our way through the tables, and I know he can tell something is wrong because he keeps glancing over at me with a worried expression, all the way up until we branch off from each other, he with his dad, and me with my mom.

Finally, we all reach the elevators and our group stands there, politely wrapping up conversations for a while before each person either heads into one of the offices on the floor or gets into one of the elevators.

About half of the group has already left when my mom finishes up discussing something with one of her colleagues and finally turns to where I've been waiting behind her. I assumed that we'd get into the elevator together, maybe even spend a little more time with each other in the lobby before going our separate ways, but apparently, once again, I overestimated my mom's desire to be around me.

"Bye hon." she says with a pat to my shoulder and promptly heads down one of the hallways to my left before I can even respond.

"Bye mom," I whisper to myself, rolling my eyes as I turn from where she left me with the rest of the group and head to one of the numerous elevators, pressing the call button. After a moment, I hear the familiar ding signifying the elevator's arrival and step inside, pressing the button to go down to the lobby and running my hands down the growing goosebumps on my arms. I lean back against the side of the elevator, and am about to close my eyes, when, just as the doors are about to close, a certain someone quickly catches them and slides into the elevator, pressing the 'close doors' button behind him as he leans next to me against the wall.

"Percy what are you doing?" I ask him, surprise plain on my face.

"Getting in the elevator?" he asks, a look of fake innocence blanketing the smirk I have grown so used to over the evening.

"Percy I'm serious, your dad and your uncle are both still up there, won't they be mad if you go down without them?"

He shakes his head. "They won't even notice I've left. They were just about to head down to the bar anyway."

I narrow my eyes at him, and am about to open my mouth to say something, but before I can, the elevator comes to a stop and the doors open up into the lobby.

Percy motions to let me go first, and I flash him a quick smile as I step out into the warmth of the lobby, and immediately feel out of place in my cocktail dress when everyone else down here is wearing bathing suit cover ups and sandals. At least I am not alone in my fancy attire though. I look over at Percy, who is taking off his tie and hanging it around his neck. I let out a little laugh and he looks up, catching my eye with an embarrassed smirk.

"What!" He says with chuckle. "I hate these things. They make me feel like I'm choking."

I throw my head back with a grin. "Ha! If you think those are bad, try wearing heels," I say, making my way through the open front doors of the lobby and sitting down on the side of one of the planters just outside the entrance, before reaching down to start unclasping my shoes.

"Okay, point taken," Percy says, grinning down at me from where he stands just across from me, running his hands through his hair. Gods he is gorgeous. _Shit_, I chide myself. I really need to get these mushy thoughts in check, this is so unlike me.

I place the first shoe on the ledge next to me, and have just started taking off the second one when a tug of pain shoots up my foot, and I can't help but cringe. I immediately try to cover it up, and proceed to casually place the second shoe next to the first one, but Percy has already noticed the source of my pain, and carefully kneels down on the floor in front of me, gently taking my leg in his hand.

"Annabeth, what happened?" He asks in an uneasy tone, a look of concern taking over his face as he looks over the ball of my foot.

I am very aware of every move of his hands, every stroke of his fingers as he carefully rotates my ankle to get a better look at the cut. I quickly force myself to swallow down my own anxiousness at being this close to him.

"I may have stepped on a piece of glass when I entered the restaurant," I say shrugging, it's really not a big deal Percy, it just hurts a little bit."

He looks up at me, eyebrows raised. "Annabeth, you literally have glass coming out of your foot."

I shrug again, slightly embarrassed, and gently pull my foot out of his lap before grabbing my shoes from beside me and standing up. He stands up with me, but still looks extremely concerned.

"Percy I'm fine," I say and let out a little laugh to lighten the mood. He still looks uneasy, but at that, he grins ever so slightly.

"Alright, alright, just promise me you'll make sure to get the glass out properly when you get back to your room, okay?"

"I promise," I say with grin as I lean down to pick up my skateboard from the bike rack. Percy's eyes widen when he sees my board.

"Oh my gods Annabeth are you serious? No way. You literally cringe every time you so much as take a step, there is no way you'll be able to ride back on that thing." He takes a long breath, obviously trying to figure out how word what he wants to say next. "Let me drive you home. Please? If not for your own sake, then at least to just ease my conscious."

I am about to protest, but stop myself, realizing he has a point. There is no way I will be able to ride my board until I get back to my room and get the glass out of my foot.

"Ugh, fine," I say feigning annoyance, when really I am actually really flattered that he offered. "I'll give you it to you just this once, but if you even think about offering me your jacket or some chivalrous shit, I swear to gods I will smack you."

Percy erupts into laughter, and we make our way to the valet stand, the pair of us probably looking like a hot mess with my missing shoes and his undone tie.

Percy hands the valet guy the ticket along with a tip, and within moments, Percy's car pulls up. I am thankful to see that his car isn't something pretentious, but rather, a simple Volvo SUV. Percy walks toward the car and is about to open the door for me when I quickly cut him a glare.

He shakes his head with a laugh. "Geez, fine, no chivalry. Got it." He grins over at over at me. "I was only testing you."

I snort. "Sure," I say, and make my way to the passenger door while Percy walks around the car. We get in at the same time, slamming the doors behind us.

As Percy pulls the car out from the front of the Colosseum and we begin to make our way down the main road, he looks over at me.

"So, back to your room?" He asks.

Startled, I look up at him and blush in horror. "What!"

"Annabeth, where's your room?" Percy asks with a smirk. "I can't just keep driving around the resort forever."

I put my hand to my face to hide my embarrassment. "Yes! Right. My room. Number 1042. Over near the Tennis Courts."

"Oh that's pretty close to me," Percy says, and then pauses, smirking. "I mean, I guess it would have to be for us to have run into each other like that earlier today."

I immediately blush in horror at the memory of our earlier encounter as Percy makes a right onto the narrow road that leads to the tennis courts. While he drives, I steal a quick glance at him out of the corner of my eye. He looks absolutely gorgeous with his tousled hair hanging messily in front of his face, and the green of his eyes highlighted in the moonlight. And for just a moment, I am so overcome with haziness, that I do something I would almost never do in any other circumstance.

"Percy?" I hear myself asking.

He looks over at me. "Yeah?"

I take a deep breath and look back over at him. "I was just wondering what you're doing tomorrow night?"

I regret the words as soon as they're out of my mouth, but there's no going back now. I have a moment of panic in which I quickly worry that he just won't say anything, but he responds almost immediately.

"I'm just going to some dumb thing with my cousins." He quickly glances over at my then. "Why?"

"Oh no reason," I say and turn my head to look in the opposite direction, cringing. "No reason at all." I bite my lip. _Ugh_, I cannot believe that I was just about to do that.

The car pulls to a stop, and I am happy to see that we have arrived at my room. I pick up my purse and board, grab my shoes, and get out of the car. Percy gets out as well, and we walk up to the door together. Thank gods he has plans to hang out with his cousins tomorrow. I can't believe that I almost just asked out a guy I only just met. And to a dance nonetheless! I leave my board on the front porch and take out my room key.

"Thanks for driving me home Percy," I say, looking up at him, a slight flush in my cheeks. "I really appreciate it."

He gives me a slight smile. "Yeah no problem. Just make sure you get that glass out the second you get in." I laugh at his bossy tone. "And also that you put peroxide on the cut. Who knows how many germs you got in it from walking around all night."

I shake my head, trying to hide my grin. "Goodnight Percy."

Percy pauses, looking at me, and for a moment, it feels as though we are the only two people for miles. He takes a strand of my hair and tucks it behind my ear just before we pull apart.

"Goodnight Annabeth," he says.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Percy POV

The second I pull up in front of my room, I decide very quickly that there is no way I will be able to fall asleep when I am feeling this great and make my way over to Thalia and Jason's room instead of my own. After knocking on their door, I check my phone to see what time it is. It's only 10:00, so there's no way that either of them are asleep yet. A couple seconds after I put my phone back into my pocket, Jason opens the door. He looks tired and disheveled, but completely unsurprised to see me.

"What do you want?" He asks, just as I push my way past him and plop down on the couch, in front of the TV. There is a game of halo on pause in front of me, and I pick up the controller to continue where Jason just left off. I am honestly on such a high right now, I just need something to do with my hands. Stupid ADHD.

Jason stalks over to me, tiredly rubbing the back of his neck. "Perce you're gonna ruin my score." I shoot him a quick glare.

"Jase, we both know that I am a hundred times better than you at halo," I say shaking my head disapprovingly, and continue working the controller.

"That is so not true," Jason protests, rolling his eyes, but he doesn't make any move to take the controller back as he sits down next to me on the couch.

We stay like that for a couple minutes, taking turns getting through the single player levels and eating hot cheetos out of the family size bag on the coffee table. I have a giant grin plastered on my face the entire time though, and finally, Jason decides to break the ice.

"Percy, why are you glowing? You're smiling so hard, I'm worried that your happiness is contagious," he says without so much as looking up from the screen.

I scoff. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

At that, Jason rolls his eyes and pauses the game, making a show of putting down the controller and turning toward me, fixing me with a hard glare.

"Percy who is she?"

I blush and scratch the back of my neck, trying to look away from Jason and cover my expression, but it's no use. I can't help but get a massive smile at the mere thought of Annabeth's face.

"She's no one," I lie. "Just some girl I met around the resort."

"Uh huh," Jason nods his head with sarcasm. "And does this 'no one' have a name?" He asks, teasing plain in his voice. I jokingly smack him with one of the throw pillows and take a deep breath to try and contain my grin.

"Her name is Annabeth." I say, and can barely get the words out because of how much I like the sound of her name. "She just arrived today."

Jason takes another handful of chips and motions for me to go on. "And?"

"And nothing!" I say. "That's it. I met her earlier today, and then ran into her again tonight at dinner. Her mom and your dad work together on the board."

Jason chuckles and picks back up the controller, resuming the game.

"Well she must be something special, because I honestly don't think that I've ever seen you act this way about a girl," he says with a smirk, and I just put my head in my hands in embarrassment.

The memory of her flashes through my mind; Annabeth laughing across from me at dinner, her smile as she teased me in the elevator, the moonlight turning her blond hair silvery as she looked out the window of the car on the drive back.

"So, you gonna ask her out?" Jason asks, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Ask her out?" I reply, probably looking dumb with my blank expression.

"Yes, ask her out. You know that thing that people do when they like another person and want to go on a date with them…"

I roll my eyes at his smirk. "Yes, I know what asking someone out is."

"Okay then," Jason states matter of factly. "Just give her a call and ask her out."

I cringe. Jason then sees the look on my face and promptly turns toward me, discarding the game controller once and for all.

"Percy!" He says with wide eyes. "You didn't ask for her number!" I look off to the side to avoid his glare.

"I may have forgotten that one small detail..." I trail off, scratching the back of my neck.

"Percy how do did you forget to ask for her number, man? She was probably waiting all night for you to ask for it."

I look at him more seriously now. "Jason, I don't even know if she's single. She could already have a boyfriend for all I know-"

"Perce, you'll never know if you don't ask," he says, shaking his head. "Whatever, it's not that big of a deal because you'll probably see her at the dance tomorrow night anyway. You can just ask her then."

I sigh. "I don't think so Jason."

He tilts his head in question. "What? Why not?"

"Because when I was driving her back to her room, she asked me what I was doing tomorrow night, meaning that she probably doesn't know about the dance," I explain to him, reasonably.

Jason's jaw just drops and he face palms. Now I'm just confused.

"Okay," I say, shaking my head in annoyance. "What did I do wrong this time?"

Jason takes his head out of his hands. "Percy you can be so thick sometimes!" He moans. "Bro you're such a dumbass. She was trying to ask you out!"

I take a minute to process this, and it finally sinks in.

"Oh," I say, nodding slowly and cringing. "She was trying to ask me out." Jason just shakes his head in frustration.

But then, all of a sudden, the reality of it dawns on me and I repeat myself.

"Jason!" I almost shout. "She was trying to ask me out! That means she must like me back!"

"Honestly Percy, you sound like a little kid," Jason says, standing up and walking to the kitchen to throw the empty chip bag away. "She was probably trying to ask you to the dance you dumbass."

I look over at him. "You really think so?" I ask, the excitement plain in my voice. Jason just continues to shake his head and walks toward his bedroom.

"What did you tell her when she asked what you were doing tomorrow night?" Jason asks, glancing over his shoulder at me. I visibly cringe for thousandth time tonight.

"I told her that I was 'hanging out with my cousins'" I tell him.

Jason face palms. "I'm going to bed Perce. Make sure you leave the lights on for Thals so that she doesn't run into something when she gets back." But I barely hear him. I'm too busy smiling so wide that my cheeks are beginning to hurt.

After a little bit, I get up off the couch and make my way outside to head back to my own room, making sure I that I leave the lights on for Thalia.

And for the rest of the night, all through my long, hot shower and the twenty minutes I spend lying in my bed before I can finally fall asleep, that big ass smile never once leaves my face.

I wake up early the next morning, in a rush to get to the Colosseum early before my lifeguard shift starts so that I have time to grab breakfast. When I arrive, I decide to stop in the café and grab pastries and coffee for me and my dad before heading upstairs to swing by the conference room he is working in and drop them off.

When I reach his door, I make sure to knock first, not knowing if he is in a meeting or not, but when my dad yells for me to come in, I see that it is just him in the room, sitting behind the conference table with his laptop open and piles of papers spread out around him.

My dad looks up, and smiles when he sees that it's me.

"Hey Perce," he says and slides his laptop aside to show me that I have his full attention. "What's up?"

I hold up the pastry bag and coffee cups. "Just brought you breakfast," I say, walking in to set them on the table. "Figured you probably hadn't eaten yet."

My dad chuckles and reaches forward to grab the coffee. "Well you figured right," he says and takes a long sip of his drink. He looks especially tired this morning, the dark circles under his eyes drawing attention to the deepened lines of his face and his exhausted expression.

"You good dad?" I ask him as I take a bite out of my pastry.

He looks up at me with his tired eyes and forces a slight smile. "Yeah, everything's alright, I'm just feeling a little overworked is all."

I shoot him a grin and motion to the coffee. "Good thing I didn't get decaf then, eh?"

He laughs, throwing his head back. "Good thing…"

I walk around the table to stand behind him. "So what exactly are you working on?" I ask, motioning to the files he has open in front of him.

"Oh nothing much," my dad says, taking a sip of his coffee. "I'm just trying to get the proper permits for the marine research I want to do here." He shakes his head. "But for some reason, it's proving to be a lot more difficult than it should be. Usually I get these kinds of permits pretty easily because the environmental research I do is minimally invasive, but there are a lot of blocks in the way for this case, and I have no idea why. Looks like someone really doesn't want people prying into their area."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "You'll figure it out dad. You always do."

He smiles and gives my hand a squeeze. "Thanks Perce."

"I should probably be getting to work," I say, picking up my food from off his desk and heading to the door. "Oh, and remember that I can't have dinner with you tonight because I'm going to the resort dance," I quickly remind him.

My dad chuckles. "Thanks for reminding me Perce, I would've totally forgotten otherwise." He then looks up at me, a smirk growing on his face. "You wouldn't happen to be going with that pretty, blond girl you left dinner with last night would you?"

I flush red with embarrassment. "Daaaad…" I moan, but can't help smiling as I shut the door to his office behind me with a little last wave.

The truth is, I can't wait to see Annabeth tonight. I mean, if she's going that is... I really hope she is. Jason was right, I really want to ask her out, and the sooner the better.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Annabeth POV

I wake to the sound of pounding on my window. At first I try to ignore it, but after three minutes, there's no point in trying to fall back asleep. The damage is already done. Groaning, I roll out of bed and walk over to my bedroom window before hastily throwing my curtains open.

Behind my screen door stands no other than Thalia, who looks annoyed that I put off getting up to greet her for as long as I did.

"Up and at 'em sleepy head!" She says to me, shaking her head. "We've got a big day ahead of us."

I look over to the clock on my wall and see that it's only 8:30. "Thalia, what?"

"We're going shopping for the dance tonight," she says. "Honestly Annabeth, what would you do without me?" Thalia shakes her head. "You have five minutes to get yourself looking presentable before I come in there and drag your ass into the car."

I moan and wipe the sleep out of my eyes. "But Thalia…"

"No buts!" She says and walks back to her car holding up five fingers with a glare.

"Ugh…" I groan, opening up my closet. I quickly change into a pair of Nike shorts, flip flops, and a t-shirt before throwing my hair up into a messy bun and rapidly brushing my teeth (only two minutes left). I then grab my purse from off the floor, snatching an apple from the kitchen counter. I open my door to find Thalia looking relieved from the driver's seat of her Lexus.

"Damn Annabeth, you were cutting it real close there. Thought I was gonna have to actually live up to my threat and come in and drag you out."

I laugh, rolling my eyes, and hop into the passenger seat. "Thalia," I start, "you don't even like shopping, so why are we putting ourselves through this?" I ask.

"Because," she says, "last night, at approximately 11:00 pm, my brooding time was interrupted by a panicked phone call from one miss Annabeth Chase, who was freaking out, claiming that she got 'lost in a moment' and almost asked a guy out." I am about to say something, but Thalia cuts me off. "And then, would you believe it," Thalia shakes her head, "this girl had the audacity to hang up on me without providing any details whatsoever." Thalia looks over at me disapprovingly. "Crazy right?"

I blush guiltily and take another bite of my apple. "Yeah, sorry about that, I was a little freaked out."

"Yeah, I'd say," Thalia grins, shaking her head. "You sound better now. I could've sworn you were going to go into cardiac arrest last night after all your hyperventilating.

"Shut up," I say with a grin, rolling my eyes.

Thalia laughs. "But anyway, today we are going to take our own sweet time shopping for the dance so that you and I have a chance to talk this situation over." I shoot her a disbelieving glare. She's definitely leaving something out. "Alright, fine!" Thalia says, I also may have promised Piper and Hazel that we would go with them. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to hear every single detail about this mystery guy.

I laugh and shake my head at her. "Fine."

My eyes widen as we pull into a parking spot in front of a strip of expensive looking boutiques that line the beach.

"Thalia I am way out of my element," I say, stepping out of the car as I examine the throng of women and girls that move in and out of the boutiques, all sunkissed and wearing flowy dresses.

"Yeah you're not alone," Thalia says, the confident urgency she had to get here earlier definitely gone now. She pulls her leather jacket closer around her tank top and steps up onto the curb. "This place looks like the set of 90210."

I laugh and follow her into one of the boutiques.

The second we step into the shop, I'm immediately hit with the smell of perfume and scented candles. Thalia pulls her shirt up over her nose. I look around at the dressing rooms and modern furniture and am surprised by just how many potted orchids can fit into one room when I spot Piper and Hazel waving at Thalia and me from a sitting area in the back.

Thalia and I make our way over to them and sit down next to Hazel as Piper gives a little twirl around in a low-cut dark red dress that I had seen on a mannequin as we walked in. It honestly looks better on Piper.

"It's really cute," I say flashing her a smile. Piper beams.

"Oh, I almost forgot," she starts, "Hazel and I also picked some dresses out for you two on our way in."

Hazel leans down and picks up a pile of dresses from beside her chair, placing them between Thalia and me. "Better get started on that now," she laughs. "Otherwise we'll be here all day."

Piper jokingly glares at her. "Shut up."

I laugh. Next to me Thalia has started peeling through the dresses and stops on a pink, frilly one. "You know what guys," she says. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all." Thalia starts to get up but Piper stalks over and pushes her back down.

"I don't think so."

Thalia just groans as Hazel giggles. "And to think some people don't view shopping as being aggressive," Hazel states, shaking her head.

I pick up the pile of dresses and grap Thalia's wrist as I stand up. "Lets go chica, you're the one who wanted to come here in the first place."

She follows me into the dressing room with a moan. "Yeah, but only because I wanted to talk about your mystery guy. Not because I wanted to _shop_." Thalia shudders at the word.

I laugh and pull the curtain closed behind us.

"I don't know what to tell you Thals," I say, starting to undress. "We met at the resort yesterday afternoon, and then I ran into him again at dinner last night."

Thalia rolls her eyes as she slips off her jacket. "You're not giving me much to go on here," she says disapprovingly. Do you have any idea how many teenage guys there are at the resort? Like a million!"

I begin to wiggle into a white, flowery dress I can already tell I'm not going to like. "Okay," I start hesitantly, blushing. "He's really cute." I say and turn around for Thalia to zip up the back.

She just groans at me. "Well duh he's cute, I wouldn't expect you to be going crazy over someone who wasn't a looker." She lets go of the zipper. "Annabeth, I'm gonna need more detail, and I honestly don't understand why you can't just tell me his name."

My eyes widen and I throw my arms out in frustration. "Because you might know him!"

Thalia glares at me. "That's kinda the point Annabeth."

"Um no," I say. "I don't think so."

"Ugh, you're killing me," Thalia says, slipping into a dark brown romper and tying the back. I look at myself in the mirror and promptly decide to get my own dress off as quickly as possible, for the good of the universe. Turning around, I motion for Thalia to unzip me.

"Yeah, that dress wasn't the greatest," she says and begins to unzip the back. "Can you at least tell me a little more about this guy, Annabeth. Do you want me to die of suspense? That's a thing you know."

I smirk. "It's not, but yeah, I mean he was really charming and funny," I say shyly, "cracked a lot of jokes."

"Good," Thalia laughs. "It'll be a good contrast with _your_ glowing sense of humor," she says sarcastically. I jokingly smack her with one of the dresses.

"What about you?" I ask, starting to shimmy into the next dress. "Anyone special?"

And just then, I look over at Thalia to see that she has blushed a brilliant red, her face now matching the color of her new, bright, red dress.

"No way!" I say. "This whole time you've been pestering me about some guy I only met yesterday and you've been holding back on me about your own love life!"

Thalia scoffs. "Oh, I would hardly call it a love life," she says, peeling off her dress. "I'm still hung up on my ex."

I frown at her with sympathy. "Hey, there's no way that you could possibly know that you won't end up getting back together."

Thalia shrugs. "I guess," she says, but it's obvious she doesn't have much hope on the subject.

"Well, why'd you guys break up?" I ask.

Thalia steps into a new dress and looks at me. "I don't know," she exclaims. "We were going our separate ways, and it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time." She sighs. "But now, I just found out that he's staying at the resort this summer, and I can't help but think about him."

I laugh. "Now I know why you were really so eager to come shopping for the dance this morning."

Thalia flushes and jokingly smacks my arm. "Ugh, shut up."

I look over at her. "Hey that one actually looks pretty good on you," I say, motioning to her dress. It's a black, sleeveless slip that hugs her curves really well. I lean down to the floor and pick up her jacket. Thalia laughs and slides the jacket on over her dress.

"Now we're talking," I say with a smirk. "You must have some hope that you and your ex will get back together if you're gonna show up looking like that." I laugh. "He doesn't stand a chance." Thalia grins.

I finish slipping on my current dress, and turn around for Thalia to zip it up. When I glance at the mirror, I see my reflection and am pleasantly surprised by how much I like it. The dress is dark blue, and sleeveless, hugging tight at the top and pushing out at the waist. I immediately know its the one, and apparently Thalia dos too.

"Aw, Annabeth," she says, covering her mouth with her hand. "It's beautiful."

I smile. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?"

"Looks like mystery guy doesn't stand a chance either," Thalia smirks.

I turn to her. "Thals, I already told you, he said he has plans tonight."

Thalia looks at me intently. "Hey, if I'm not aloud to lose hope about my guy," she says, "then neither can you."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Percy POV

"Jason, not so tight!" I whimper as Jason tugs my tie tight one last time. Once he's done, he backs away from me, his hands up in the air in mock innocence.

"There," he states. "You look beautiful."

"Oh shut up," I tell him and grab my suit jacket from off the back of Jason and Thalia's couch, slipping it on over my dress shirt.

Right now, Jason, Thalia, and I are just putting the last touches on our outfits before we head down to the Colosseum for the dance. And apparently, in Jason's case, one of these last touches includes a nacho cheese stain on his red tie. The moment the cheese meets the fabric he closes his eyes slowly like he's in pain.

"Damn," Jason says, finally opening his eyes. "Now I have to change my tie, and Piper is going to kill me if I don't have a tie that matches her dress."

I laugh. "Here Jase, you can take mine. Just give me one of your other ones."

Jason looks up at me, notices that our ties are the same color, and releases a sigh of relief. "Aw thanks man, you're a life saver."

We both begin to untie our ties, and as soon as I get mine off, I hand it to Jason before heading down the narrow hallway to his bedroom and stepping up to his closet.

"Jason, where do you keep your ties?" I shout to him.

"Bottom left drawer!" He calls back.

I open the drawer and find that Jason has about a million ties in a million different patterns. I mean, I guess he'd have to with all the fancy gigs he's forced to go to because of his dad's job.

Shuffling through his drawer, I come across a dark blue one that I really like, and hang it around my neck before closing Jason's closet and heading back into the living room area.

Thalia has come out now, and I'm surprised to see that she actually put effort into her outfit. She has on a cute black slip dress paired with knee-high boots and her leather jacket. Her hair is pulled back in a low bun, the choppier pieces falling out of it and elegantly framing her face.

"Damn Thals," I say. "You clean up well."

"Oh be quiet Percy." Thalia smirks and makes a move to grab her purse. "Let's get a move on, or we're gonna be late."

Jason and I quickly finish tying our ties and follow Thalia out to the car. Apparently Thalia's driving because my car "smells like fish," and I really hope that she's just making that up as an excuse to drive because otherwise, I definitely ruined any chance I had with Annabeth the night I drove her home.

From the passenger seat, Jason turns up the volume on the radio to a station that immediately begins playing rap. I nod my head at him in approval and Jason grins back at me.

"Oh. Fuck. No." Thalia says and smacks Jason's hand away from the stereo. She plugs in her aux, and Green Day's American Idiot album begins blasting through the speakers.

"And here we go..." I moan as Jason mocks covering his ears.

On the way down to the Colosseum, we pass families and couples smiling as they walk, all of them either coming back from the beach or heading out to dinner. We also pass by groups of teens, all dressed up, walking in the same direction as us, and I think it safe to assume that the dance tonight is going to be pretty packed. We only get a few glares from people passing by for playing our music so loud in a communal area.

When we finally arrive at the Colosseum, Thalia pulls around back to snag one of Uncle Zeus's reserved parking spots and we all head out, making our way past the valet and through the grand front doors. Through the arches and windows, I spot the sunset outside, which casts a pink tint over the pool and lights up the marble of the entryway with a serene glow.

Thalia, Jason, and I make our way through one of the arches and begin to walk the circular patio of the Colosseum around to the other side. As we walk, the sound of instrumental music grows louder and louder until we have finally reached the dark, narrow staircase that descends to the grand double doors of the black box ballroom.

We head down the stairs, and from the moment we all step into the room, I am blown away. I have never seen anything like it. It's an all black room with blacklights lining the roof, making everything in the room glow neon. Even though the dance only officially started about thirty minutes ago, there are already tons of couples and groups of friends out on the floor dancing and just generally having a good time.

"This is awesome," Jason says, turning to face us.

"Agreed." I state, and begin making my way over to the bar. Thalia and Jason follow close behind me and the three of us give the bartender our soda orders and wait off to the side for them to be ready.

I honestly can't get over how cool everything looks. In addition to the white glow from the blacklights, the room is also littered with glow sticks and neon decorations giving everything a really electric vibe.

"This looks amazing," Thalia says, basically reading my mind.

"I know, they really outdid themselves," I add, scanning over everyone. Though I try not to admit it to myself, in the back of my mind I know that I am looking for Annabeth, and immediately shake my head to snap myself out of it. I don't even know for sure whether or not she is even going to be here, so there's no use spending my whole night searching for her. I look over at Thalia who also appears to be doing the same type of room-scanning that I had just been doing, but then I think of how ridiculous that would be because, really, who on earth could she possibly be looking for.

From behind us, I hear the bartender call our names and the three of us turn around to pick up our drinks from the counter. Jason, looking up from his phone, opens his mouth to speak.

"Piper says that she and the girls are going to be here in twenty minutes."

Thalia snorts. "Running behind, as usual. Come on guys! Let's hit the mosh pit!"

"Thalia I don't-" Jason starts, but Thalia just sets his drink on the counter alongside her own and grabs his hand.

"Come on asshole, lets go."

I smirk and take a sip of my drink. "Have fun Jase!" I shout over the music, but immediately realize my mistake. Thalia, still gripping Jason's wrist, has stopped in place and is now shooting daggers at me with her eyes. I gulp.

"You know what," I start, setting my drink down on the counter beside theirs. "On second thought, maybe I'll join you."

"There you go dickwad," Thalia states, and grabbing my wrist with her free hand and leading Jason and me out to the dance floor. The three of us make our way past numerous groups of dancing friends and couples over to the center of the dance floor where a giant mosh pit has formed. As soon as we reach the edge, we join in with everyone else, aggressively jumping up and down to the music. More people flock in behind us until we are completely enveloped in bodies. It feels like the whole room went up about a million degrees, and I can't help the giant grin that spreads across my face as I join in and shout the lyrics along with the rest of the crowd. The whole area smells like BO and everyone is basically just sweating on each other, but I can't help but love the whole thing. I see Thalia and Jason to my left both shouting along to the music, ear to ear grins covering their faces. Thalia's hair has begun to come undone, and eventually she just gives up and lets it fall loose around her face. It's difficult not getting separated from each other in the crowd of people, but somehow we manage to stay together, gripping each others clothes and occasionally linking arms as we jump up and down.

We have been in the mosh pit for what feels like fifteen minutes when, between the push of limbs and the unusually red faces of everyone around me, I catch a glimpse of familiar blond hair and immediately stop jumping. It was a giant mistake on my part because, as everyone knows, rule number one of mosh pits is that you should never, and I repeat never, stand in place. If you do, you're an idiot.

So apparently, I'm an idiot. I immediately get pushed over, and an elbow whacks me in the face.

"Jesus!" I yell,

To that, a boy to my left shouts, "No! My name's Justin!"

I roll my eyes and duck out, pushing my way through the crowd to the outside of the throng. After a moment, I feel Thalia and Jason following behind me, and the three of us stop to collect ourselves on the side of the dance floor.

"Shoot!" Thalia says, looking at her phone. "Piper's been trying to reach me."

Glancing down at his own phone, Jason visibly winces. "Yeah me too," he says. "Probably best that you take this one Thals."

"What, why me?" Thalia shouts over the music. "You're her boyfriend!"

"Exactly!" Jason shouts back at her. "Meaning I'm more likely to get scalped if she's mad!"

Thalia just rolls her eyes and ducks to the side to take Piper's call.

As soon as she's gone, I immediately begin scanning the room for the blond head of hair I had just seen moments before.

"Percy, what's up man?" Jason asks me. "You look like you've just seen a ghost and you dipped of the dance floor hella fast."

I swallow. "I think I saw Annabeth."

"Annabeth?" He says. "As in the girl you wouldn't shut up about last night Annabeth?"

"Do you know any other Annabeths?" I snap at him.

"Okay, okay!" Jason says, his arms up in front of him in mock defense. "Are you sure it was her?"

"I mean, I think so. It sure looked like her."

Jason smiles and runs a hand through his hair. "Shit man!" He says. "That's great! This means you can ask her out like you wanted to."

I shake my head. "I don't know man."

"What do you mean you don't know!" He shouts. "You obviously really like this girl, and from what you told me about what she said last night, she probably really likes you to. Now go ask her out before someone else does!" He says, lightly hitting me on the shoulder.

I swallow. "Jason I know you're right, but for some reason I have this sick feeling in my stomach. That's probably a bad sign."

"What's a bad sign?" Thalia asks as she slumps her way back over to us, putting her phone back into her pocket.

"Percy…" Jason starts and mockingly punches me on the arm. "Thinks that he saw the girl he's been crushing on."

"No way!" Thalia says. "Perce, I didn't know you liked anyone! You should definitely go ask her out."

"Ughhh…" I moan. "I don't know, something doesn't feel right. I told you already, my stomach feels like it's flipping over inside me."

"That's called nerves you dipshit." Jason says. "Now go!" He hits me again, and this time I begin to make my way back onto the dance floor, shooting Jason pleading eyes over my shoulder as I go.

Behind me, I hear Thalia shouting to Jason over the music. "Piper and the others arrived five minutes ago and were looking for us. She told me that we should just meet them at the bar."

"Works for me!" Jason shouts back to her, and over my shoulder, I catch a glimpse of them walking off towards the bar. I turn back towards the dance floor and begin to walk back to where I thought I had seen Annabeth on the outskirts of the mosh pit, urgently keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of her blonde princess curls and hoping to gods that I don't end up making a fool of myself.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Annabeth POV

I push past the hoards of sweaty teens, my head down and my arms covering the top of my head, as I rapidly make my way towards the back of the room, heading straight for the women's restroom. As I pass person after person, all of them decked out in their fancy attire and glow in the dark accessories, I try to press down the pang of panic I feel rising in my chest. _Why had he lied to me? _

When Piper, Hazel, and I had first arrived at the dance, the first thing Piper did was call her boyfriend Jason, who is also Thalia's brother, to see where they were so that we could meet up with them. However, when neither of them replied, we decided to head over to the bar to grab some drinks. And as we waited in line to place our orders, that's when I had seen him.

Out on the dance floor, I had caught a fleeting glimpse of tousled, jet black hair bouncing up and down as Percy jumped to the music with the rest of the crowd. At first, I thought I wasn't seeing it right. _Certainly it wasn't Percy, _I thought to myself. _Hadn't he told me just last night that he had plans and would be busy tonight? _But sure enough, when I stepped closer and got a second glance at him, there was no mistaking it. That was definitely Percy Jackson.

"Um, guys, I'm going to go to the restroom," I had said over my shoulder to Hazel and Piper.

Hazel turned towards me. "Do you want us to go with you?"

"No that's alright," I had said. "Thank you though." And before I knew it, I ended up here, ducking and dodging the flailing limbs of dancer after dancer as I make my way across the dance floor, heading straight to the restroom.

As soon as I reach the edge of the dance floor, I push open the door to the empty women's restroom and brace myself against the sink.

_Why would Percy have lied to me?_ My reflection looks flushed and crazed in the mirror, almost as if someone had knocked the air from my lungs. At first, I try to rationalize in Percy's favor. Maybe his plans got canceled and he had decided to come to the dance at the last minute? But the more I think about it, the more I can't seem to get over the idea that by basically asking him out the same day I met him, I must've freaked Percy out enough to make him lie straight to my face about having plans, as an excuse to turn me down.

_So stupid! _I chide myself. I am leaning over the sink, my head in my hands, when all of a sudden, I hear the door to the restroom open, and I immediately snap back up, turning the faucet on and pretending to be washing my hands.

Through the reflection in the mirror, I look over my shoulder and am surprised to see that one of the two girls who walked through the door is none other than Drew Tanaka, the girl (or more accurately, the satan incarnate) who I had run into in the library yesterday morning. She wears a short yellow romper and has her long, shiny black ringlet curls swept over her shoulder.

"Honestly Lacy, I don't understand how some of these people can even afford to be staying here. Like, by the look of some of those dresses alone, I can already tell that the resort must be going downhill if those people are able to purchase a timeshare," Drew says, stepping up to the mirror and lifting her hand to reapply her lip gloss.

"Oh totally," the other girl, a petite blond in a pink slip dress who I assume is Lacy, says as she reaches up to reapply her own makeup as well.

I clench my fists under the running water before reaching up to turn off the faucet and dry my hands. But before I can even grab a towel, I feel a hand on my shoulder, turning me around.

"Hey, it's Anabell right?" Drew says as she puts her lip gloss back in her purse, not once breaking her piercing eye contact.

"Annabeth, actually," I say, shooting daggers right back at her. Someone must still be mad from when I told her off yesterday.

Drew glances down at my dress, a look of disgust on her face. "See, this is exactly what I mean Lacy, if the resort keeps letting in strays, it's reputation will be diminished in a matter of months."

I pull my shoulder out of her grip and, because my hands are still wet and I can practically feel my anger boiling over and out of me, I take a step towards Drew, smile, and dry the water from my dripping hands off on her romper. Lacy gasps from behind her, and the look of outrage and astonishment that takes over Drew's face is to die for.

"Have a nice night Drew," I say, and flip her off as I push my way out of the bathroom and back out onto the dance floor, a grin growing on my face. That felt good.

I hear Drew shout something from the bathroom, but am unable to make out what she says from behind the closed door. I let out a laugh, and can't stop giggling as I begin to make my way across the room, a bubble of pride swelling in my chest.

I push past the hoards of dancers, trying to head back to where I had left Piper and Hazel, but the room is so big that I honestly can't even remember where the bar was. I begin trailing the wall, knowing that this way I'll find the bar eventually. My cheeks are beginning to burn from the intensity of my smile, when all of a sudden, I hear a voice come up from beside me.

"What could possibly be making you smile like that?"

I look to the left, only to be met by a pair of familiar sea green eyes. I immediately feel the same uncontrollable pull in my chest that I seem to only feel whenever I'm around Percy. However, that feeling only twists into something uncomfortable and sickening when I remember that Percy blew me off and lied to me about having plans for tonight.

"Nothing," I quickly say, turning away from him to continue walking against the wall. From behind, I feel Percy rush to keep up with me.

"Annabeth," he says, lightly placing a hand on my shoulder to turn me around. As soon as I do turn, I see the look of hurt that flashes across his face as a result of my dismissiveness, and I immediately feel bad.

I give him a slight smile and succumb. "I may or may not have wiped my hands off on Drew Tanaka's four-hundred dollar romper."

Percy's eyes widen. "No way," he says, looking in the direction of the restroom. I follow his gaze, and we both start to laugh when we see Drew emerge from the bathroom, frantically attempting to dry the newly formed water stains off of her romper as Lacy trails behind her, whispering reassurances and carrying both of their purses in her arms.

"You better be careful," Percy says, turning back to me, a grin on his face. "It's only your second day here and you're already making powerful enemies. I'd hate to see what kind of havok you'll reek by the end of the week."

I laugh. "Oh, you have no idea." Percy chuckles, and I take a moment to admire just how gorgeous he looks all dressed up in his suit, the darkness of it combined with the darkness of his hair making his eyes pop even more than usual.

"How's your foot doing?" Percy asks me, motioning down to my converse. It takes me a moment to remember what he's talking about.

"Oh, much better," I tell him. "Honestly, it feels like nothing ever happened." It's only sort of a lie. The cut is healing well but still hurts like a mother fucker.

Percy smiles and reaches up to tighten his tie. "That's great!"

I look up at him, a grin on my face, and begin to blush furiously when I notice that the blue of his tie is the exact same shade of blue as my dress. It's so uncanny that it almost looks like we had coordinated it to be that way.

An awkward moment of silence passes between us in which Percy stares at me for a really long time, making me blush even harder than I was before, if that's even possible.

"You look really nice," he says to me, nervously toying with the hair at the nape of his neck. He looks really cute when he does that, and I find that I have to practically clasp my hands behind my back to keep myself from reaching out and trying it myself.

Man I am such a creep. I better chill out or Percy's gonna be taking out a restraining order on me.

"You do too," I tell him, biting my bottom lip to keep from smiling. A perfect moment passes in which both of us just stand there, admiring each other, and I feel as though I'm in an unreal state of bliss. That is, until the poisonous memory of how I must've scared him into blowing me off last night rises to the surface of my memory, and I quickly break away from his stare, not being able to control the words that come out of my mouth next.

"Why did you tell me that you were busy tonight?" I ask Percy, now looking down at my feet instead of at his eyes.

"What?" He asks dumbly, a look of confusion painted over his face. I force myself to look back up at him for a moment.

"Yesterday in the car," I start, blushing at the memory of our drive back to my room. "I asked you if you had plans tonight, and you said that you were busy."

A look of realization passes over Percy's face as he realizes what I'm talking about, and I see his expression change as he rushes to formulate a response in his head.

"Man, I am such an idiot," he says. "I didn't realize-" Percy begins worrying at his bottom lip. "When I said that I had plans, I wasn't trying to blow you off Annabeth. I would never do that. I was just genuinly being dumb and when you asked me what I would be doing tonight. I said that I was gonna be busy because I was planning on coming to the dance. Trust me that it wasn't because I was trying to be dismissive." I feel the tension in my face release.

"So you weren't just creeped out by the fact that I was being so forward?" I ask him, the sick feeling I had been harboring in my stomach slowly unclenching.

Percy's eyes widen. "Oh gods no," he says, panic in his voice. "Trust me, that was the last thing that would've gone through my mind."

A sudden surge of heat rises to my cheeks and I quickly feel the need to collect myself; anything to rid my body of the sick feeling I had been carrying around for the past fifteen minutes. Ugh, I hate self-doubt and uncertainty.

"Wanna dance?" I ask him, reaching out my hand. I am a little surprised by my sudden confidence, especially in light of everything that has happened. My heart just about leaps out of my chest when Percy replies.

"Absolutely." He says the word with such conviction that it makes me feel like there is nothing else in the entire world that he would rather do than dance with me.

Percy smirks as he takes my outstretched hand, and begins leading us out into the middle of the dance floor, the electric glow of his white shirt and my blond hair growing stronger and stronger in the blacklight as we make our way further into the darkness of the crowded dance floor. The colored stage lights that line the wall are shining down in such a way that the air itself appears to be blue, reminding me of how it looks underwater when sun rays shine through the ocean.

Percy leads us to a section of the dance floor (away from the mosh pit) in which couples are dancing, goofily twirling each other around to the music. I let out a startled laugh as Percy suddenly pulls me close and takes my hands in his hands and we begin to sway to the music.

It's too loud to talk down here, but I honestly don't mind at all. I am enjoying myself immensely in this moment just the way it is. We smile and laugh with each other for what feels like hours, dancing crazily to the more upbeat songs, and more sweetly to the calmer songs. No one these days is a spectacular dancer, especially people our age, but I have to admit that Percy and I are certainly holding our own out here. There's no awkwardness in the way he holds me, and I honestly feel that this is the most at ease I have felt with a guy in a really long time. There is a part of me that just wants this moment to last forever. And in a way, it kind of does.

Percy pulls me closer and closer as the minutes go by. And I let him, by body yearning to be closer to his as if I have lost control of it completely. And when the music changes, slowing down to some beautiful song I have never heard before, I let myself give into the urge, leaning in closer to him.

Our faces are mere inches apart, when, out of nowhere, the DJ completely changes the song and an upbeat hip hop song begins basting through the amps. It's as though we had both been together in a secluded bubble, but it has just popped, exposing us to the real world and bringing our awareness to the fact that we are in the middle of a dance floor, surrounded by tons of other people. Percy and I pull away from each other slightly, embarrassed by the closeness we had just had between us moments before.

I smile awkwardly at him and pull my hair up into a messy low bun, suddenly feeling very hot. Sweat runs down the base of my spine under my dress and I immediately become embarrassed when I think of how badly smudged my makeup must be at this point. Percy doesn't seem to notice, though. He just stands across from me, running a hand through his hair and breathing heavily, a slight smile on his face.

"Why don't I go get us something to drink?" Percy asks as he starts to fan himself off with his suit jacket.

I smile. "That would be nice."

Percy grins and begins walking off in what I assume is the direction of the bar. I watch he goes, and blushing, I can't help but grin myself as I make my way over to a nearby table to sit down and check my phone. When I look at the screen, I'm not at all surprised to find some classic Thalia texts.

Annabeth! brooo! you've been in the bathroom for like 45 minutes - where you at man?

I laugh and type my response.

I've been hanging with mystery guy ;) Come meet me at the tables by the dancefloor - I have a funny story to tell you about Drew!

Thalia's reply comes in almost immediately.

As much as I am dying to hear this "funny story" about the she-devil, you know I'd much rather hear about your mystery guy. I'll be there in two seconds!

I laugh, shaking my head as I turn off my phone and attempt to discreetly slide it back into the pocket of my spanx. Looking around, everyone here appears to be having such a great time, and I am overcome with a sudden, unexpected feeling of admiration for my mother. For all of her faults, I do have to say that she has a real talent, being able to imagine a place as brilliant as this. I only hope that someday, I might be able to do something half as good during my career.

I am still sitting at the table when I see Thalia run up. She looks amazing in her black slip, and her dark eyeliner makes her electric blue eyes pop more than ever.

"You look great Thals," I say, standing up to give Thalia a hug.

"Says you!" She exclaims, leaning into our embrace. "You look like a million bucks. No wonder mystery guy decided to show up!" We both begin to sit down. "See, didn't I tell you not to lose hope about it?"

"You were right," I say in defeat. "Probably for the first time ever," I add with a laugh. "But still right nonetheless."

Thalia jokingly smacks my arm. "Speaking of the devil, where is mystery man?" She asks me. "I'm dying to meet this guy."

I smirk. "He's just getting us drinks right now. He should probably be back in a couple of minutes. The line is pretty long now."

Thalia's face visibly falls. "Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me. Ran over here for nothing."

"What, I'm not enough for you?" I ask her jokingly.

Thalia laughs. "Nope not at all." Grinning, I decide to change the subject.

"Enough talk about me," I interject. "It's Thalia time." I lean in closer to her. "Did you see your ex?" Thalia starts blushing redder than Piper's dress.

"Yes," she starts, hesitantly. "He's here, for sure. Our reuniting moment was painfully awkward. I mean, I haven't seen him in months. But... I _definitely_ still have feelings for him." Thalia looks up at me, biting at her bottom lip to keep her grin in check. "He asked me to go out for coffee with him tomorrow."

"Thalia!" I exclaim. "That's great!"

She laughs. "I know, I know. I'm nervous as fuck, but I really think this is a good thing, you know? We only broke it off in the first place because he's going to college this year and we didn't want things to be complicated with me still in highschool and all. So obviously, I still feel like there's all of this unfinished business between us. But I really feel like the fact that it has been so long and we still feel the same way about each other is a sign that we're like, supposed to be together or something."

I smile at Thalia and grab her hands. "That's great, Thals. Where is he now?"

"He rushed off about forty minutes ago," she says. "I think he saw someone he knew and wanted to say hi." Thalia gives my hands a squeeze and shakes her head quickly. "Ugh, I hate emotions. They're so confusing!"

I laugh. "Tell me about it."

Thalia grins and begins to stand. "Okay, Annabeth, I love you, but I am dying of heat over here. I need something to drink. I'm gonna run to the bar and grab something and I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Do you want anything?"

"Thanks, but I'm good," I say. "Mystery guy is getting something for me, remember?" Thalia laughs. "I have to use the restroom anyway," I say. "Why don't you just go and I'll meet both you and mystery guy over there when I'm done."

Thalia raises her eyebrows. "Do you want me to come with you?" She asks.

"Nah, it's alright girlie," I tell her. "Go get your drink and I'll meet you there."

"K chica," Thalia says, and gives me a little wave as she heads off in the same direction Percy had wandered just minutes ago. Why is it that everyone else seems to have gotten their bearings already but me?

I shake my head and begin to head back in the direction of the restroom I had been in earlier, and am thankful to find it Drew-free when I open the door. I give a silent thanks, because gods know I wouldn't be able to handle another Tanaka encounter tonight. When I'm done, I wash my hands and head back out towards the dance floor. I walk in the same direction that I had seen Percy and Thalia go, praying that somehow, I eventually find my way to the bar and that I'm not just hopelessly wandering around for the next couple hours.

As I walk, my heartbeat flutters in my chest as I can't help but play the memory of my time with Percy tonight over and over in my head like a video on repeat. I can still feel the brush of Percy's hands on my hips and the memory of his arms twirling me around to the music makes me blush. I can still feel the warmth of his breath on my face as we had leaned in closer and closer to each other, just before that stupid DJ had changed the song. Ugh, it's like the fates are _trying_ to mess up my life.

The music grows fainter and fainter as I continue walking, and pretty soon, I can see the gleam of the bar over in the corner near the large front doors. There are people all around, laughing and talking happily in their fancy suits and dresses. I smile and begin walking in that direction when, all of a sudden, I see something that stops me dead in my tracks. It feels like someone has taken the ground from beneath my feet, and now I am just floating out into oblivion, trying to grasp onto any type of assurance my mind can muster.

_It can't be. _

I step forward to get a closer look, and when I do, I know that there is no mistaking it. Off to the left of the bar, slightly hidden behind the long line of people who are all waiting to get their drinks, is Percy. He stands, his arms wrapped tightly around Thalia's waist as she rests her head in the crook of his neck. Percy runs his hand through her hair in such a casual, caring way, that I can immediately tell that they have known each other for years. That they have _loved _each other for years.

_Percy is Thalia's ex._

The realization hits me like a freight train, and I feel the familiar pressure of tears forming behind my eyes. For a moment, I find it hard to catch my breath.

_Pull it together Annabeth, _I chide myself. _You will not react like this. Don't be weak._

But in that moment, I can't seem to figure out a way to get a grasp on my emotions. They're arising much too fast for me to handle, and I begin heading straight for the doors. I need some air.

The moment I step outside and begin making my way up the stairs, the rush of the breeze against my burning skin feels as though someone has just thrown me into the deep end of a pool when I was least expecting it.

_Annabeth Chase, _I tell myself, _you have just been thrown into the deep end indeed. _

I begin walking further and further away from the blackbox room and scale the hall of the Colosseum all the way to the lobby. It is terribly dark out now and I can see stars through the open windows.

I walk through the front doors and down the stairs, and as soon as I know I have gone far enough that nobody will see me, I drop down to the grass. I hold my head in my hands and push my palms against my eyes to keep my tears from falling.

_You're being ridiculous Annabeth, _I tell myself. _You barely know the guy, and already you have somehow let him have enough power over you to make you feel like this. Weak. _

I take a deep breath and try to calm myself down, but even as my temperature cools down and the pressure behind my eyes begins to fade, the pang of hurt in my chest doesn't go away.

I can't believe that I was stupid and naive enough to think that my feelings were reciprocated. I can't believe that, again, I made up everything in my head.

_Percy never liked you like that, _I tell myself, trying to make myself come to terms with what I had just seen. _He likes Thalia like that. _

I release a sigh and run my hands through my hair. Taking a deep breath, I pull out my phone and begin writing a text to my group chat with Thalia, Piper, and Hazel.

Hey guys - so sorry, but I wasn't feeling well and left the dance early. Thanks so much for taking me out tonight, though!

After I send the text, I put my phone away and begin to stand up. The best thing I can do now is get as far away from the Colosseum as I can. My room is about a twenty minute walk from here, but I don't mind. I need time to think.

If Percy is Thalia's ex, then that means Percy is the one Thalia is in love with. The one who she dated for months and who she is going to go get coffee with tomorrow.

I need to stay away from Percy. For both Thalia's sake and my own. Thalia is an amazing person and she deserves the world. She obviously loves Percy, that much is clear. I need to set my own feelings aside and be happy for my friend.

But despite knowing this, I can't help but feel really hurt by the whole thing. I mean, I know that I've never been in a real relationship before, and that my knowledge of the whole ordeal is vastly limited, but I could've sworn that what Percy and I had shared tonight, that feeling of closeness and happiness all in one, was real. Because to me, it felt realer and more intense than anything I've felt in a long time.

I guess I was wrong.

Apparently I'm just desperate enough for a relationship that I'll believe that the first good-looking guy who gives me even a little bit of attention must really be interested in me. Gods I am so naive.

When I finally get back to my room, I fall right into bed, too tired to even wash off my makeup or take off my dress. I'll deal with everything tomorrow. For tonight, I just need to escape into whatever calm and peace sleep can bring me.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Percy POV

I love my job, but sometimes it has its downsides. I love working at such highly regarded place, I love the idea that I'm actually helping people, and most of all, I love having a job that requires me to be by the water 24/7.

What I don't love, however, is the 'authority enforcement' aspect of my job, especially since it sometimes leads to confrontation with people my own age. Teenagers can be dicks.

I'm currently at work, sitting in my assigned lifeguard chair by the Colosseum pool and am watching one of these dicks just, well, be a dick. He's a guy about my age with a dark tan and cleancut brown hair. He's wearing a Dallas Cowboys football jersey and a smile so bright it should come with a warning label ("WARNING: Do not look at teeth directly, blindness may occur"). The dick strolls over to the pool with two other guys who are pretty much his clones and tells a couple of freshmen, who had come to the pool early to grab the best seats, to scram, taking over their seats for himself and his goons as soon as they do.

You see, one of the reasons I find my job particularly frustrating is that even though I have all this authority, I can't use it unless someone is actually breaking the rules. And unfortunately, simply being a dick isn't against the rules. So I'm forced to sit here watching in silence for large periods of time as dicks come and go, spreading their dickish disease everywhere.

_Well, _I think as I lean back into the comfort of my chair. _At least it's entertaining. _

And part of me is thankful for that much at least. Anything to get my head off of last night.

You see, last night was probably one of the best nights of my life. And that sounds like I'm exaggerating, but when I really look back on it, I genuinely think that it was. I've known Annabeth for less than a week, and I already think I'm crazier about her than I ever have been about any girl in my life. She's super intelligent; in a way that's intimidating and attractive at the same time. You can always see the wheels of her mind turning behind her eyes and she uses big words not as a way of showing off or trying to seem smarter than other people, but because she really just appreciates the beauty of language and loves the fact that there are words out there that are able to convey what she feels and thinks. Annabeth is fun to be around, and I find that I just love hanging out with her. I love being around her in a way that's different from how I feel when I hang out with my friends, but somehow, just as powerful.

We had an amazing time last night, dancing and talking and laughing. I don't think my smile left my face once the whole time that we were together. And then, there was that one moment on the dance floor when I could've sworn that we were going to kiss. She had looked gorgeous in her dark blue dress, with her blond curls falling messily around her face. I had felt the muscles in her back tense under my hands as we had leaned in closer and closer to one another, just before the music changed and I had felt the moment slip out from under us like a wave being pulled back into sea.

So, I had gone to get us drinks. And when I returned, not even fifteen minutes later, Annabeth was gone. As if she had never been there in the first place. There was a moment there where I toyed with the idea that maybe she never had been. That I had merely been so desperate for her to be at the dance that I had conjured up the whole thing in my head, but I knew it wasn't true. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not crazy. Well, at least not crazy enough to fantasize entire evenings with pretty girls down to the last detail. And everything that had happened between Annabeth and I had felt too real to have been imagined. I mean, if I think back hard enough, I can still feel her hands in mine. I can still smell the scent of her hair and feel the warmth of her body. I've been known to get pretty creative with stories, especially when it comes to making up excuses as to why I didn't do my homework, but there's no way my imagination was _that_ good. Which just leaves the question of why she left.

Had I done something wrong? Was she alright? It's not like I can check on her, because somehow, I still don't have Annabeth's number! I know that her leaving is probably not that big of a deal and that I'll definitely run into her around the resort at some point soon, but I can't help being driven insane thinking about it in the meantime.

Another reason my job drives me crazy; it gives me way too much time to think. My ADHD coupled with a job that requires me to sit in a chair for hours on end just means that I spend the whole day driving myself insane with my own thoughts, so I am thankful to be torn away from my misery when a voice calls out to me from my left.

"Hey Perce!"

I look over my shoulder to see Jason striding over to my chair. He wears a dorky smile and a pair of atrociously bright shorts. I mock covering my eyes.

"Jesus Jason," I say, motioning to his shorts. "Who on earth are you trying to punish by wearing those?" Jason looks down at his pants, a questioning look on his face.

"Wait, you don't like these?" He asks, genuinely curious, and I'm immediately overcome with a surge of pity for the poor boy.

"No Jason, I'm not blind," I say with a laugh and motion for him to sit down on the chair next to mine. "What's up?"

"Eh, nothing," Jaosn says, sitting down. "Just came to check in." I look at Jason long and hard. He practically wilts under the stare.

"Yeah right," I say to him, my voice dripping with skepticism. "This is the last way I could possibly imagine you wanting to spend your free time." I cross my legs and sit back, preparing to be here for a while. "What's really up?"

Jason sighs in defeat. "Okay," he starts, a look of concern taking over his face. "Honestly? I'm worried about Thalia."

"Thalia?" I ask, my confusion plain in my voice. That's the last thing I would have expected him to say. "Why?"

"Well," he starts. "As you know, Luke is here. And after everything he put Thals through when school ended, I'm not sure it's the best thing for her to be around him. I mean, they're even going out for coffee this morning!" Jason says, throwing his hands up. "Not exactly the best way to feed a broken relationship."

I laugh at Jason's sudden serge of brotherly protectiveness.

"Jase, Thalia's a big girl." I say to him. "She can handle herself."

Jason takes a deep breath. "I know that she can handle herself," he says. "But sometimes I get the impression that her strength is what makes her dive headfirst into situations like this without first thinking about the consequences. She was really hurt when they broke up, and I don't know if she's thinking about how painful it could be for her if it happens again."

I take a moment to process this, because of course, Jason does have a point. Thalia and Luke had been dating for about a year and a half back at our school in New York after being close friends all throughout middle school and high school. But because Luke is a year older than Thalia and is going off to college this year, they decided to break off their relationship to avoid the inevitable growing apart they knew would naturally happen between them in a matter of time. While Thalia says it was a mutual decision though, I think that we all know it was really Luke's idea. And though she put on a strong facade through it all, we could tell Thalia was hurting. I mean, she really does love Luke, and their breaking up had a much larger impact on her than I think she originally thought it would.

This is why I think Jason does bring up a good point. That Thalia might be running into her reconnection with Luke blindly, her desire to be with him blinding her to the consequences of what might happen if things don't end up working out between them.

But then I think about how happy Thalia was last night at the dance when she told me all about running into Luke and agreeing to go out with him this morning. She had hugged me tightly as we both waited in line to order drinks, her cheek pressed tightly against my chest, her arms wrapped around my waist. I know how important this relationship is to her simply because of the fact that Thalia never openly shows affection like that and must have been pretty overcome with emotion to prompt her to hug me in public that way.

"You have a point," I tell Jason, drawing my mind back to our conversation. "Thalia does have a tendency to charge head on into situations and blind herself to potential consequences." I take a moment to think before opening my mouth again. "But she really loves Luke. This relationship is really important to her, and I think it would be stupid of her not to try to save it." Jason takes a moment to process my words, sliding a hand through his messy, blond hair.

"You're right," he says to me. "I know you are. I was thinking the same thing, and it feels good to hear it come out of someone else's mouth." Jason looks at me, an underlying amount of worry visible in his bright blue eyes. "I guess it's just hard to watch your sister walk into a situation that you know might end up hurting her, you know?"

I nod my head. "Hey, I get it," I tell him. "Trust me, I do. Thalia's like a sister to me too." I take a deep breath, looking out at the pool. "But we've gotta trust that she knows what she's doing."

I feel Jason laugh beside me. "At least in this situation."

I let out a laugh of my own. "Yeah, I can't say I trust her with much."

The two of us sit there in silence for a minute, watching the families by the pool laughing and having a good time, when Jason surprises me with another question.

"Perce," he asks, a look of concern taking over his face again.

"Yeah Jase?"

"Did your dad ever figure out that messy situation he was in with in with his work permits?"

As soon as Jason asks the question, I feel my face fall as I remember how stressed my dad had looked when I had brought him breakfast yesterday morning. He had told me that it was because the normally easy-access permits he needs for his environmental research were being withheld from him for some reason, which is really strange and unusual in his line of work. All the research my dad does for his job is minimally invasive, so it makes no sense why someone would be so adamant on withholding the permits from him. And the longer he is forced to wait, the more money he loses in the process. I find myself getting really mad all of a sudden. My dad works so hard and is always under a ton of stress, the last thing he needs is something else to worry about.

"Yeah, still no progress," I tell Jason. "The whole thing is just super weird, you know?"

Jason nods. I know that he feels as worried about the whole thing as I do. My dad has always been a great uncle to Jason and Thalia, often giving them the attention they were being neglected from their own father growing up. My dad's even stepped in for uncle Zeus at a couple of parent/teacher conferences over the years, despite his own busy schedule. I know that Jason views my dad as a sort of second father in a way, and that whatever stress my dad is currently under is inadvertently affecting Jason in the same way it is me.

"Man, that sucks," Jason says shaking his head. "I really hope he gets it worked out soon."

"Yeah, me too," I say.

"Almost as much as I hope you kick Dylan Ventus's ass right now," Jason adds, turning away from where he had been looking out over the pool, flashing a smirk in my direction.

"What?" I mumble, confused.

Jason motions over to the pool where the dick with the cleancut hair and the Cowboys jersey who I had seen take the good pool seats from those freshman earlier, sits with his goons. The three of them are lounging back, their shoes kicked off as they pass a vape pen between them, obnoxiously blowing smoke everywhere.

"Oh hell no," I say, standing up.

"And that is my que to leave," Jason remarks, also getting up out of his chair. "See you later Perce," he says with a wave, but I barely pay attention to him as I make my down the steps to the pool and head over to the dick, who I gather from Jason's previous statement, is named Dylan.

When I finally get up to them, Dylan makes no move to acknowledge me whatsoever, and exhales smoke right into my face.

I clench my fists by my sides.

"Excuse me," I start calmly, launching into the standard response for this sort of situation. "We actually don't allow smoking or vaping by the pool. It would be greatly appreciated if you would withhold until in a private setting."

Dylan finally turns in my direction, holding eye contact with me for a long moment before taking another drawn out swing from his vape pen and turning to his goons.

"You hear that guys," Dylan remarks. "The lifeguard says it would be _greatly appreciated_ if I _withhold._"

The other boys burst out laughing at Dylan's mocking tone, and one of them even has the audacity to reach out to Dylan, motioning for another hit. I flash them a look of disgust.

"Come on man," I start. "There are _families _here. Are you really so addicted that you can't even wait a couple hours for another dose of nic?"

Apparently that got him mad. Dylan shoots me a glare so intense, I worry lasers are gonna shoot out of his eyes.

"You watch yourself-" He starts, but I cut him off.

"I can have resort security down here in two minutes if you refuse to cooperate," I tell him, motioning to the walkie talkie at my side. "And trust me," I start. "There are some pretty big guys in that squad who, just taking a guess here, probably won't be as forgiving about underage nicotine use as I am."

Dylan sits there for a moment before apparently deciding that whatever joy he gets from being the worlds biggest dick probably isn't worth whatever consequences he'll be facing if I call security. He motions to his goons to get up.

"Let's go guys," he says, beginning to pack up his stuff.

I watch as he does, a slight smirk finding its way onto my face. There really is nothing quite as satisfying as beating a dick in a standoff.

As he starts to make his way away from the pool, Dylan gets up really close in my face. I take a minute to notice how bottomless his brown eyes look and feel a deep hatred run through me at the sight of this boy hardly even know.

"You'll regret this," Dylan says, giving me a shove as he walks past me, his goons trailing behind him like brainwashed clones. I shake my head and begin to walk back over to the lifeguard stand. As I do, a mother who is alone by the pool with her three kids gives me a thankful smile. I nod back at her in return.

The next couple of hours go by in a seemingly uneventful way. I watch in boredom as families come and go, my ADHD even going as far as to compel me into counting the number of windows, pool chairs, and umbrellas strewn around the Colosseum-for the millionth time. I'm thankful when the sun finally begins to set and one of my co-workers comes to rescue me, taking over my position for the night shift.

It's completely dark out when I finally sling my sports bag over my shoulder, heading back into the Colosseum. I start off downstairs towards the staff locker room where I then change out of my uniform and take a long, hot shower, making sure to get every last bit of sunscreen and Dylan Ventus out of my system.

When I finish, I dry my hair with a towel and change back into my own clothes, thankful to be rid of my work-required bright red swim trunks and white polo, which are so unattractive that even I can't seem to make them work.

As I head out, my mind suddenly drifts to my newly-acquired, and infinitely embarrassing, Outlander obsession. And, as I head up the stairs, I am so engulfed in the idea of getting back to my room as quickly as possible to pop open Netflix, that I don't even look where I'm going as I abruptly turn the corner from the staircase to the lobby and smack right into a familiar head of blond princess curls.

"What the fu-" Annabeth begins, bringing her hand up to her head, but she quickly cuts herself off when she notices it's me.

"Shit Annabeth, I am so sorry," I say, rubbing my own head where I feel a throb beginning to take place. "I really wasn't looking where I was going-too busy thinking about Jamie Fraser I guess," I ramble, and immediately pray to whatever higher power there may be to please make me shut up.

Annabeth looks up at me with a confused expression.

"Jamie, who-" She starts, but I cut her off.

"You know what," I say. "It's not important. Outlander reference. Highly recommend the show by the way, but that's also not important. What _is_ important is that I'm sorry I ran into you." I then pause, realizing how bad that sounds. "I didn't mean that I'm sorry I _crossed paths _with you,'" I say. "I'm sorry that I _literally _ran into you_._ Again."

Annabeth just looks at me for a minute, and I think that this is probably the most embarrassed I have felt in a while, when all of a sudden, her mouth begins to quirk up at the side, and before I know it, Annabeth starts laughing. She throws her head back in giggles, heaving for air.

"You're ridiculous," she says, between laughs. And I can't help but be swept into her laughter, which, apparently, is absolutely contagious. "I mean," Annabeth gasps. "What are the chances that you and I would _literally_ run into each other again!"

At that, I erupt into a whole new string of laughter. It really is kind of ridiculous.

"Guess it's just fate," I say, and across from me, I feel Annabeth's laughter begins to wane.

"Yeah," she begins. "Fate…"

As both of our laughter dies down, Annabeth starts to take a seat on the steps and I follow her lead, sitting down next to her. A long moment of awkward silence passes between us in which neither of us speak, and I look down at my hands, trying to contemplate what to say next.

"So," I start, trying to muster up as casual of a tone as I can. "Why'd you leave the dance early last night?" I ask, hating how awkward the words sound the moment they leave my mouth. Annebeth doesn't seem to notice though, and doesn't miss a beat responding.

"Yeah, sorry about that," she says. "I wasn't feeling well all of a sudden and decided to head back to my room." Annabeth twiddles with a strand of her hair as she speaks. "I would've texted you, but I didn't have your number," she says.

"Oh sorry about that," I apologize. "I totally forgot to give it to you."

_You're such a liar, _I chide myself. _You _remembered _just fine. You just didn't have the balls. _

I look to my left, stealing a quick glance at Annabeth as I do. She looks absolutely beautiful, as she always does, but I can tell from the furrow in her brow and the slight frown of her mouth that there is something bothering her now that wasn't weighing on her last night.

"You alright?" I ask her, resisting the urge to reach out and grasp her hand. Annabeth looks up at me, almost appearing shocked at my concern for her. Maybe she's surprised at the fact that I could tell something was up.

"Yeah." Annabeth gulps. "Thanks."

The way she says it is almost abrasive, and I immediately feel a pang of protectiveness over this girl who I have only just met, a yearning to take away whatever it is that's upsetting her. Against my better judgement, I let myself reach out and curl a strand of Annabeth's hair behind her ear, my fingers brushing against her jawline as I pull back my hand. She draws in a sharp intake of breath and quickly turns toward me, her eyes wide.

A moment passes between us in which I feel we are completely and utterly connected to each other, attached by some invisible force. I am looking into the stormy grey of her eyes for a period that feels like a lifetime but ends in less than a second as I feel my eyes break away, uncontrollably trailing down to Annabeth's lips.

I feel this pull between us then. The same pull I had felt last night, but almost stronger in a way because it's less clouded by all the emotions that were present in the heat of the moment yesterday. And I know with perfect clarity what I want to happen before I do it. I want to kiss Annabeth Chase. Right now, in this moment, I want to kiss her more than I have ever wanted to kiss any girl in my life.

So, I lean in. And my face is only inches away from hers when I am stopped by Annabeth's sudden and sharp intake of breath.

"Percy what are you doing!" Annabeth says, pulling away from me as she begins to stand up. She shakes her head, panic and pain plain on her face. "How could you do this to her?"

_What? _

I'm immediately overcome with an overwhelming sense of confusion and begin to stand up.

"Annabeth?" I say, question in my voice. She immediately pulls away.

"I honestly don't understand," Annabeth says, throwing out her hands. "You seem like such a kind, amazing guy, so I honestly can't comprehend how you could possibly do that to someone you so obviously love."

There is anger and hurt written all over Annebeth's face as she turns away from me, heading up the last few steps of the stairwell to the lobby. I watch as she walks pushes through a group of people who stand by the check-in counter heads towards the front doors, leaving me far behind in the stairwell wondering what on earth she could've possibly meant.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Annabeth POV

Something that ticks me off is when people assume that because you enjoy reading, you must enjoy reading _everything_. I mean, it's ridiculous; if someone listens to music a lot, we don't automatically make the assumption that they must like _all_ genres of music! My dad can't get enough of the 'Late Night Jazz' playlist on Spotify, but I highly doubt that anyone could make the mistake of thinking that the same level of interest he has for Jazz extends to heavy metal or rap. Well, news flash! It's the same with reading.

I've loved reading for as long as I can remember. Whether it was my Nancy Drew obsession in fourth grade or my Harry Potter obsession in fifth, I just couldn't get enough. So it shouldn't have been a shock when my dad finally noticed my growing love for books and decided to get me a copy of '15th Century Europe's Greatest Militaristic Minds' for my 13th birthday. It was only the beginning of what would soon become a pile of boring, and therefore unread, books that I keep in a cardboard box under my bed. And every Christmas, every birthday; that goddamned pile grows! My great aunt even went as far as to get me a copy of the Bible for my 8th grade graduation. I'd fantasized myself dropping that pile off at Goodwill many, many times until I came to the realization that in doing so, I would probably be doing the community more harm than good.

So, a couple of hours ago, when I had first started reading through a large portion of my mom's legal files to help her out, and to my bored expression she had said, "Annabeth, get that expression off of your face-you _like _reading," it really set me over the edge. As if my Twilight obsession or me getting really into _Fahrenheit 451 _when we read it in English class this year somehow correlated to me being just as enticed by my mom's legal files.

Anyway, my point is that I am bored as fuck. It's about noon right now and I am glad to say that I'm almost done with my work for the day. Over the past week and a half, I've been helping my mom out in the office as a way of both getting part-time summer internship credit, and of course, keeping my mind off of everything that has happened during my first week here. Which has been more difficult than you might think.

Apparently I hadn't been delusional. Percy Jackson had felt the same way about me that I had about him. I hadn't misread any signs or made up anything. Though I guess that doesn't exactly mean that I hadn't been delusional-I had been delusional enough to think that there might possibly be a decent guy on this planet.

The night of the dance, when I had seen him hugging Thalia, it really looked like he loved her. I had seen him holding her with obvious affection, looking at her with such protectiveness, that I thought he must've really cared for her.

And then, literally the next night, he went right ahead and tried to kiss me. I mean, what kind of douche would cheat on his girlfriend so casually? Before that, I had thought I had just imagined the flirtatious undertone to Percy's words when he talked to me, or the way he had seemed to hold my eye contact much longer than necessary when we talked. Now I know that I hadn't imagined anything. He was just a prick.

I've been avoiding Thalia ever since the night of the dance because I know that as soon as I see her, I'll have to tell her the truth about Percy. She's such a good person, and deserves to know the truth, but I really don't want to hurt her. She may deserve the truth, but she sure as hell doesn't deserve that.

And so, though I know I'll have to deal with the situation eventually, I haven't been able to bring myself to responded to any of Thalia's texts just yet. Besides, I can't help but get the feeling that me telling Thalia that the guy she's been in love with for years is a piece of shit might not go over well.

Most of the files I've had to look over this morning have been about what bank accounts were linked to which of the resort's renovations and which companies the resort had loaned construction equipment from, etc. All of it absolutely and undeniably boring.

Which is why I'm surprised to find myself intrigued when I finally pickup the last folder of the day. It's labeled: OLYMPUS COAST ENVIRONMENTAL STATISTICS and has a giant, red CONFIDENTIAL stamp across the front.

So naturally, I open it.

The file itself though, happens to be significantly less interesting and is simply a compilation of documents outlining the results of various tests that had been run by the resort, measuring the chemical composition of the property's water and soil, etc.

But if the file itself didn't seem to contain any information of interest, than why was it labeled confidential?

Against my better judgement, I quickly decide to pull out my phone and take pictures of the documents within the file, continually checking the door to make sure my mom doesn't walk in the room.

When I'm done, I slip the documents back into their folder and place the file in its rightful cabinet block under my mom's desk. My heart races as I stand back up.

Stepping out from behind the desk, I make my way to the door of my mom's office and walk down the long hallway to the elevators. While I wait, I make yet another bad decision and decide to take a quick investigatory stop at the resort library to do some research on the whole confidential file ordeal before I head back to my room.

One of these days, I'm going to land myself in a really bad place. But I guess until then I'll just go on making terrible choices and see where it gets me.

When I finally reach the first floor, I make my way over to the library, slugging my backpack over my shoulder as I do.

Today I'm wearing my usual jean shorts with a pair of strappy sandals and a light grey tank top that just so happens to be the same color as my eyes. I have my hair thrown back into a messy, low bun, strands of curls falling out around my face. My sandals click loudly against the ground as I make my way across the marble floor of the lobby.

I'm walking at a pretty fast pace, more than eager to get to the library-until I catch a glimpse of a certain choppy haired someone through the window and halt in my tracks. I am about to turn around, all fantasies of acting on my inner Nancy Drew disappearing, but it's too late. Thalia has already spotted me. I slowly make my way into the library, dragging my feet as I do.

"What the hell Chase!" Thalia shouts at me the moment I step through the door. "What the _fucking_ hell!"

A group of elderly old white women who are sitting in the corner with their books shoot Thalia glares. I feel a pang of guilt rise in my chest.

"I thought you didn't work on Saturdays," I say, stopping directly across from Thals. She looks like she wants to kill me.

"It's been almost two weeks!" She shouts. "You haven't answered any of my texts or calls-and that's after you decided to disappear without a trace after the dance. You had me worried sick! I had to check in with the front desk just to make sure that you were, you know, alive."

My guilt only continues to grow, and I think that Thalia can tell how I'm feeling by looking at the expression on my face. I see her make an effort to soften her tone just a bit before she continues.

"Annabeth, what's going on?" She asks, placing her hands on the counter. Her black nail polish is chipping, and I can see that she has been biting at her cuticles. I hesitate before beginning to speak.

"I have something I need to tell you," I say, lifting my head to meet her eyes. "And it isn't great."

Thalia creases her eyebrows in frustration. "Annabeth, whatever it is, I'm sure it's not bad enough to warrant you not talking to me for two weeks."

"I don't know…" I say, trailing off. "It's pretty bad."

"Annabeth, it definitely isn't." Thalia stands up a little straighter. "Look, I get off in about twenty minutes for my lunch break. Why don't we go get something to eat and you can tell me all about whatever it is that's been bothering you and making you avoid me," she says and shoots me a smirk.

I give Thalia a slight smile. "That'd be great."

She grins and makes a move to stand behind her computer.

"Now go do whatever it is you came in here to do and get out of my sight until my shift is over. You're bringing down the mood of the whole room."

I laugh. "K."

Turning away from Thalia, I walk in the direction of the reference section, the sick feeling I had been harboring in my gut for the past couple of days easing considerably as I do. I spend the next twenty minutes searching viciously through any book on local law regarding environmental standards I can find, bookmarking anything I feel might have potential value. I scan each page aggressively, and by the time I'm done, I come away with a stack of at least ten books. I bet only five of them will fit in my backpack.

When I return to the main room, the old ladies are finally getting up to leave and I bet that Thalia is all too relieved about it.

"Find what you were looking for?" Thalia asks when she sees me approaching.

"Yeah, I think so," I say. "Might have to play catch up online later, but this seems like a pretty good start." Thalia scoffs at the word 'start' paired with my massive pile of books and begins scanning the bar codes of each one.

"Annabeth, let's go to Persephone's Garden," Thalia says. "It's a cute little cafe down by the pool. I went there a couple of days ago and absolutely loved it."

I try to push down the terrible feelings of jealousy that rise up at the thought of Thalia sitting and having coffee with Percy, and then immediately hate myself for even having those feelings. Thalia's got it a lot harder than I do in this situation.

"Yeah, that'd be great," I say, forcing a smile as I begin to take back the books, shoving them into my backpack as I do.

It turns out that I actually end up being able to fit six of them in, and I'm so happy about it that I don't even mind having to carry the other four.

Thalia and I make our way down the steps to the pool, keeping up small talk as we do. She tells me all about her brother Jason who happens to be dating Piper, and in turn, I tell her about Bobby and Matthew; the little menaces who make my life miserable, but somehow, I can't help but love to death.

When we finally reach the cafe, we get seated at a cute little outdoor patio table, and I am again reminded of what an amazing architect my mom is. The view of the pool and the rest of the Colosseum is incredible, and that coupled with the light Italian music playing in the background makes it so that I can't help but feel like I'm actually in Europe.

But my momentary bliss falls away as I remember why I'm here in the first place and I look over at Thalia, biting my lower lip as I do.

"Thals-" I start, but she interrupts me.

"Uh-uh." Thalia shakes her head. "Food first."

And so, we both order massive sandwiches and sparkling sodas that I know neither of us will be able to finish. We sure do our best though. The food is delicious. We spend the next couple of minutes eating in bliss, and I'm mid bite when Thalia finally speaks, setting what remains of her sandwich back on her plate.

"Okay girlie," she says. "What is it you wanted to talk about."

My chewing slows to a halt and I swallow, beginning to lower my own sandwich to the table as well as my impending sense of dread suddenly makes me lose my appetite. A couple moments of silence pass between us before I finally work out what I want to say.

"Thals, sometimes people aren't who we think they are," I say with a swallow. "I mean, you may think you know someone, but it's possible that they have secrets-secrets you wouldn't like." Thalia raises her eyebrows and quirks a smile at me.

"You're not about to tell me that you're like, a superhero or something, right? And that Annabeth Chase is just your secret identity?" Thalia smirks. "Cause I don't know why you think that I wouldn't like that. Having a superhero for a friend would be pretty fucking cool."

I feel a light smile pass over my lips, but it doesn't last long.

"I'm serious Thals," I say. "I need to tell you something and it's really bad. You probably won't want to believe me at first, and that's okay. But you really need to know."

I see the expression on Thalia's face shift as she realizes that I'm being serious. She takes a deep breath, never once breaking eye contact with me.

"Okay," she says. "What is it?"

I brace my hands on the side of the table.

"How are things going with your ex?" I ask her hesitantly, treading lightly. I see the slight look of fear as it creeps up behind Thalia's eyes.

"Why is something wrong?" Thalia says, panic inching its way into her voice.

"No nothing like that!" I say quickly, shaking my head. "It's just-"

"Honestly Annabeth," Thalia starts, "I really have no idea what you could possibly be getting at. Luke and I are fine."

_What?_

It takes several moments for me to process Thalia's words, and when I finally do, I feel a deep, sick feeling begin to rise in my stomach. I feel my face go pale and my palms begin to sweat.

"Luke?" I ask Thalia hesitantly.

"Yes, Luke," she says, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "My ex? The one you literally just asked me about?" Thalia takes a sip of her drink and leans back in her chair. "Frankly Annabeth, I'm worried about you. You're talking nonsense and you look like you're about to puke. You sure you're alright?"

My mind is racing a million miles a minute as I try to take in the information I have just heard. I feel like my head is going to explode.

_But if her ex's name is Luke,_ I try to rationalize, _then that means…_

"But you and Percy," I say, my voice barely a whisper. At the sound of my voice Thalia's eyes widen.

"Percy?" She asks. "Percy Jackson? As in my cousin Percy Jackson?"

And that is the moment that I feel as though someone has kicked my chair out from under me.

"Oh my gods," I say. And then it _really _sinks in and I rise to my feet. "Oh my gods!"

I practically shout this time, and at least a dozen couples seated around us turn my way, though I really don't care. Right now there is only one thing that matters.

"Thalia I messed up," I say, shaking my head.

And though I just took a massive mental hit, deep down, there is some part of me that I have been trying so hard to bury over the past two weeks in which I feel a strange sort of bubbly joy and gratitude begin to take shape. I let out a laugh and cover my face with my hands.

"Oh my gods," I say again, before taking a deep breath. I quickly brush my hands through my hair and stare straight at Thalia, urgency in my eyes. "Where is he?"

"Percy?" she asks, shaking her head in confusion. "I think he's down by the beach, but why-"

"I've got to go," I say, and begin to push in my chair, slinging my backpack over my shoulder as I grab my books. "I promise I'll pay you back later," I say, "but right now I just really have to go."

"Annabeth, what the-" Thalia starts, but I barely hear her, I'm so preoccupied. I make my way past table after table until I'm finally through the restaurant doors and running up the Colosseum steps. There is only one thing on my mind now.

I need to find Percy Jackson.


	11. Chapter 11

Annabeth POV

I'm out of shape.

That much has become apparent enough as I attempt to scramble down the long-ass staircase to the beach, panting with every step I take.

I ran from the Colosseum to get here, and I'm suddenly regretting that decision. I feel sweat forming on my forehead and my feet ache from my sandals, which click obnoxiously against the cement every time I make my way down another step. My hand slides along the hot railing with ease and I don't even have time to look up and take in the view of the ocean.

I'm too focused on reaching the sand.

When I reach the bottom of the steps, I quickly take off my sandals and loop the straps around my finger as I begin making my way towards the water.

I'm not surprised in the slightest by how many people are on the beach today. It's a private beach for residents of the resort, and isn't nearly as big as the public beaches in Los Angeles, which only makes it seem more crowded. The sandy area where families and couples sit, sunbathing and making sandcastles, is significantly shorter in both length and width in comparison to most of the beaches I've been to in my life, and I'm definitely not used to seeing anything like the giant, rocky coves that line the sides of this beach. Usually it's just more and more sand stretched as far as the eyes can see, but the coves here almost serve as a barrier; keeping Olympus beach secluded from the rest of the world.

The sun is beating down really hard today, and I am seriously regretting that I didn't stop at my room to drop off my newly-acquired books before I came down here.

Oh well.

The beach gets more and more crowded the further along I get, and by the time I'm almost at the water, it's absolutely packed.

I weave my way in and out of towels and umbrellas, looking very out of place with my clothes on and my arms full of books. I carefully begin to walk alongside the water, almost knocking over some kid's sandcastle as I do.

I am about to apologize, when suddenly, I see something that catches my eye and stop in my tracks.

About fifteen feet away, half buried in the sand, I see an average looking blue backpack, and of course, Percy Jackson's skateboard. He rides a longboard that's covered from wheel to wheel in a variety of stickers, not too different from my own cruiser.

I recognize it immediately from the day we met.

I begin to head over, and as soon as I reach his stuff, I set my own books and backpack down next to it.

Relieved to finally have the extra weight off of me, I turn my head towards the ocean, already knowing where he's going to be.

It takes me a minute to spot out Percy's head of jet black hair, but as soon as I do, I immediately feel stupid for not seeing it sooner.

Of course he's the furthest one out there.

I make my way to the edge of the water, going in to my ankles before calling out to him.

"Percy!" I get a couple of annoyed looks from the people around me, but frankly, I couldn't care less. I yell louder this time.

"Percy Jackson!"

That gets his attention.

Honestly, I'm surprised that Percy even hears me, he's so far out, but as soon as he does, his head snaps over in my direction and his eyes widen in surprise when he realizes it's me.

A look of confusion takes over his face.

_What are you doing here_? Percy mouths.

I wave him over.

I see Percy's head duck underwater and he begins making his way over to me, not once breaking from his perfect swimming form as he does.

I'm immediately jealous that he knows how to swim so well, and then I mentally kick myself because I need to stop hating when other people are better at things than me.

As Percy rises from the water, a completely un-Annabeth noise escapes my throat and I quickly bring my hand up to my face to cover the blush that suddenly takes over.

Percy's body is spectacular. And I mean, _spectacular. _

My hand doesn't leave my face.

I hate this.

Percy shakes the water out of his hair as he wades his way through the water, making his way up to the place where I stand.

By the time he finally reaches me, I think that I have calmed down enough to finally take down my hand.

"Annabeth, what are you doing here?" Percy asks me, a look of deep confusion on his face. And honestly, who can blame him after the way I left things.

My stomach twists.

"I made a mistake," I blurt out. "It was dumb, and I feel stupid, and even though I almost never apologize to anyone for anything-" Looking up at the sky, I quickly pause to take a deep breath. "I came to say I'm sorry."

Percy smirks and cocks his head to the side. "Care to explain?"

"Honestly no," I say, shoving my hands into the pockets of my shorts. "But I will."

Percy grins and motions for me to go on, clearly enjoying this.

"Okay," I start with a sigh. "The first day I came here, even before I met you, I met Thalia."

"You met Thal-?" Percy starts to say, but I cut him off.

"Uh-uh, no interrupting."

"K, sorry," Percy chokes, clearly trying to hold back his laughter.

"As I was saying," I start, "I met Thalia, and we grew close really fast."

Percy shift his weight in front of me, and I'm having trouble not getting distracted by his lack of a shirt.

"So, one day," I continue, trying really hard not to look down at his chest, "she tells me that her ex, who she still has feelings for, is staying at the resort-"

"Yeah, Luke-" Percy says, and I hold my hand up to him.

"What did I say about interrupting?"

Percy shrinks.

"Anyway," I say, taking a breath, "Flash forward a couple days and we're at the dance and you and I had-" I pause. "A good time and everything."

Percy smirks and I shoot him a glare.

"But then, and here's where it gets embarrassing," I say, "when I saw you and Thalia hugging over by the bar…"

I look at Percy, but he obviously has no idea what I'm getting at. I sigh in exasperation, hating that he's making me spell this out for him.

"I kind of thought that you were her ex, who she had literally just told me she was getting back together with."

Percy's forehead creases. "But Thals is my-"

"Cousin. I know." I say in exasperation, covering my face with my hands. "But I didn't know that at the time." I awkwardly lower my arms stiffly to my sides. "So the other night when we were sitting on the stairs…"

A moment of silence passes between us as Percy processes my words.

And then he bursts out laughing.

And doesn't stop.

"Oh my gods, that explains so much!" Percy gasps between laughs. "You have no idea how confused I was."

"Percy I'm so sorry," I say shaking my head. "I really thought that you were her boyfriend and that you were cheating on her…"

This makes Percy laugh even harder.

The fact that he is taking this whole situation so well eases the tension I've been carrying around considerably. I was so worried that he would be mad at me for the way I left things between us, and seeing him react so well floods me with relief.

About a minute passes in which we both stand there laughing, Percy grabbing at his stomach, and me covering my face out of embarrassment.

The people around us aren't getting any happier with me.

Percy shakes his head, grinning.

"I do have to say, I respect your loyalty Chase," he says to me. "I mean, I'm a pretty irresistible guy."

I jokingly punch Percy in the arm.

Mostly because it's true.

"You should just be glad I didn't slap you that night," I say, sending Percy into a whole new fit of laughter.

"Yeah, I'd probably still have the mark if you did," he says.

When we finally calm down, a moment of silence passes between us. The waves crash lightly behind Percy, and I'm suddenly reminded that he probably wants to get back to what he was doing.

"Well, I should probably get going," I say, motioning over my shoulder back towards the resort. "Just came to clear that up."

I begin to turn on my heel, back towards where our stuff lays sprawled out in the sand, when Percy's hand suddenly grabs my own.

I stop, turning towards him.

"Why don't you stay?" he says with a smile, and swings our linked hands playfully.

I look at Percy and see nothing but genuineness in his sea green eyes. He looks adorable with his wet hair plastered messily to his face.

"The water's really not that cold," he adds with a smirk.

I laugh. "Percy, I'm wearing my clothes!"

"So?" he asks, giving my hand a tug. "The sea doesn't discriminate."

I snort in spite of myself.

"C'mon," he says.

Percy's smile is infectious.

And that's when I make a decision I know I will almost certainly regret later. I begin to walk away, turning my body away from Percy until our hands are just barely linked. And just when I know I have him fooled, I quickly make an about-face, running straight towards the waves and diving right in, dragging Percy along with me.

I just barely hear him let out a gasp of surprise before we're both submerged underwater.

I don't come up for air or let go of Percy's hand as I swim further out into the water. A wave passes above us, and I feel Percy kicking alongside me, both of us treading against the pull of the ocean.

Once the wave has cleared us, we release our grip on each other's hands and begin to resurface. As soon as we do, Percy bursts out laughing.

"I was not expecting that," he says, shaking his head.

"I know," I respond, shrugging my shoulders with a smirk.

We're far enough out that the ground is just out of reach for me, so I have to tread, though I can tell that Percy doesn't have the same problem from the still set of his stance.

"Shortie," Percy teases, smirking.

I splash him with water.

"Hey!" He shouts, jokingly.

"You mess with the bull, you get the horns, Jackson."

Percy wipes the hair from his face with a chuckle. "Trust me, I know."

He says it with such conviction that I almost get the impression he has a bull's horn stashed away in an attic somewhere. Ridiculous.

"You're such a seaweed brain…" I say, shaking my head. Percy shoots me a confused smile.

"What?" he says, his head cocked to the side.

"Seaweed brain," I begin to explain with a laugh. "Because your head's full of kelp."

Percy looks up to the sky shaking his head, laughing. "Okay wise girl…"

I tilt my head in confusion. "Wise girl? That sounds more like a compliment than an insult," I say to him, smirking.

"Well, I wanted to say wise-ass, but figured you probably would've punched me."

I laugh. "You figured right."

Percy splashes me, and I splash him back, and we just spend the next couple of minutes going back and forth like that. I don't think my smile leaves my face once.

It really is a gorgeous day out, and I'm kind of mad at myself for not coming down to the beach earlier. I've been missing out on a lot.

Just over Percy's shoulder, I have a straight view of the resort, which looks totally different from down here. Less like a grand hotel, and more like a distant castle, embedded in the rocky coast. It's absolutely gorgeous.

"What are you thinking about?" Percy asks me suddenly, drawing my attention back to him. I snap out of my daze.

"Sorry," I say, "I didn't mean to ignore you, I was just zoning out."

"No, not at all!" Percy says quickly. "I was just wondering what you were thinking about. You always have this look, even when we're not talking, like the gears behind your mind are constantly turning."

I laugh at that.

"A pretty astute observation for a seaweed brain," I say with a smirk.

Percy huffs out a grunt, rolling his eyes. I take a minute to think before I respond.

"I was thinking about what type of structural support they used to embed the resort into the bluffs that way," I say to him, swallowing.

Percy chuckles in amusement.

"What! you asked!" I say, laughing with embarrassment.

"And there's no answer I would've rather received," Percy remarks. He looks at me with a slight grin and this depthful stare, and I just can't seem to fathom what on earth he seems to find so fascinating.

I'm not used to people looking at me that way.

"Race you to the coves," I say, splashing Percy as I start to swim off towards the rocky gulf to the right.

He throws his head back with amusement. "Big mistake," he chuckles, and takes off after me.

We spend a long time by the coves, swimming around the rocks and keeping an eye out for crabs.

Probably a half an hour has gone by by the time Percy and I decide to get out.

We body surf this mediocre wave back, and as we begin to exit the water and make our way back up the sand, I become painfully aware of the fact that I am indeed soaking.

The hot sand shifts lightly beneath my feet, but the heat of it isn't doing anything to warm me up. I let out an involuntary shiver.

"You look like you're freezing," Percy says with a laugh.

"Well, yeah!" I retort. "And you're not?"

Percy just shakes his head. "I'm kind of immune to cold. Probably because I'm in the water so much."

We finally reach our pile of stuff, and as soon as we do, Percy throws his towel to me. "Here, take it," he says.

"Percy, I'm not taking your towel," I say, rolling my eyes. I start to hand it back to him, but he side-steps me.

"Annabeth I really don't even need it. Temperature immunity."

I smirk, shaking my head at him.

"Plus I'm wearing a bathing suit," he continues. "Which, not to brag or anything, is already starting to dry."

I'm rolling my eyes, but somehow smiling anyway. "You sure?" I ask him.

"Positive," Percy responds, beginning to pack up his stuff. "Mostly because I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have been too happy about the idea of walking through the resort wearing soaking clothes. Doesn't exactly leave much to the imagination." He smirks in my direction.

I blush, pulling the towel tight around my arms.

"Thanks," I say to him.

Percy begins to put on his shirt (much to my disappointment), and starts to reach down to pick up my stuff too.

"Percy I swear to gods if you even try to be all chivalrous and pick up my stuff for me, I will murder you.

Percy just laughs, and continues to sling my backpack over his shoulder.

"It's not chivalry. Just human decency," he says. "Trust me, if I'm ever freezing in soaking clothes, I'll expect you to carry my massive pile of books for me too."

I snort. "Deal."

We begin making our way up the beach towards the steps, weaving our way in and out of the lines of towels and umbrellas as we do. When we finally reach the base, I decide against putting on my sandals again, not wanting to have to deal with the clicking noise they make against the cement.

We begin heading up the stairs, making small talk as we do. But when we're just about to reach the top, though, Percy anxiously clears his throat to speak.

"We should hang out tomorrow," he says, nervously running his hand through his hair.

I smirk in his direction.

"I mean, not just us," he says. "But like, all of us. Thalia and Jason and everyone. We could leave the resort for the day, head into the city…"

"I'd love that," I say, and Percy looks relieved.

"Really?" He asks.

"Totally," I say. "I think I've left the resort like once in the two weeks I've been here, and even that was just to run an errand for my mom."

"Awesome," Percy says, a smile tugging at his lips. "I mean, not awesome that you haven't left the resort, obviously, but awesome that you can go tomorrow-"

"I got it Jackson," I say with a laugh, putting him out of his misery.

We've finally reached the side door to the resort lobby, and I quickly run ahead to hold the door open for Percy. He laughs as he steps through.

"See," he begins. "Chivalry isn't dead."

I can't help but throw my head back and laugh at that, and as soon as I do, Percy joins in, and pretty soon, we're both just laughing like crazy people for no apparent reason.

"Annabeth, stop it! Your laugh is fucking contagious!" Percy gasps, which only makes me giggle harder.

I haven't even noticed that we've entered the crowded lobby until I hear someone clear their throat loudly to our right.

The concierge behind the front desk is giving us a stern look.

"Shoes must be worn in the lobby at all times," he says, motioning to my bare feet.

For whatever reason, Percy and I find this astronomically funny.

I fall to the floor from laughter, and Percy is right next to me in a matter of seconds, dropping the pile of books to clutch at his stomach. I keep trying to calm down, mostly because every single person in the lobby is looking at us now, but every time I try to stop, my giggles just hit me a million times harder. It definitely doesn't help that beside me, Percy has literally started crying from laughter.

"If you don't calm down and put shoes on, I am going to have to call security!" The concierge says with a raised voice. He is obviously flustered, his face almost turning as red as his lapels. Clearly he doesn't have to deal with crazy teenagers dying from hysterical laughter everyday.

"Okay, okay," I gasp out between laughs, but as soon as I try to stand back up, I fall to the floor again, right beside Percy, shrieking with laughter. My stomach is cramping painfully from laughing so hard, and I feel my eyes start to well up with tears. I lean my head against Percy's shoulder, and become aware of the fact that both of our bodies completely shaking from the force of our combined laughter.

"That's it," the concierge says, and proceeds to call security.

It was the first time I'd ever been tested for drugs in my life.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Percy POV

"They tested you for drugs!" Thalia shrieks with laughter. "Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson: Olympus Resort's notorious druggies." She shakes her head. "As if."

"Hey, I could be a druggie!" I protest, though I don't know exactly why I feel so adamant about arguing this point. Thalia chuckles in dismissal.

Right now, she and I are sitting together in the (almost scarily clean) back seat of Jason's Lexus while Piper and Jason hog the front, the only upside of this being that Thalia is out of reach of the radio.

We are currently on our way to pick up Annabeth from her room before we head out for the day, and though we haven't even been in the car for a whole three minutes, I feel like I already know that today is going to be all kinds of crazy.

Thalia suddenly erupts into a whole new fit of laughter beside me.

"And I just _cannot _get over the fact that Annabeth thought _you_ were 'the ex' I was telling her about. Priceless!"

To this, Jason lets out an involuntary chuckle, despite his efforts to hold in his laughter.

"As if Percy could compare to Luke," Jason jokes, and I lean forward to punch his shoulder.

It's almost ten o'clock and the sun is shining brightly over the resort, bringing up everyone's moods. I've got to say, I feel great right now. I mean, despite the fact that I had to get my urine tested yesterday, everything's going awesome.

"Wait, so tell me again how it happened," Piper starts from the front seat with a laugh. She has her feet up on the dashboard and leans her head back over the armrest to look at me, her choppy hair falling into her face.

I groan. "We didn't do anything wrong! We were literally just laughing at something in the lobby and the fucking concierge called security on us!"

"Oh yes, I'm sure the concierge _called security_ on you guys simply because you were laughing," Jason sarcastically remarks with a chuckle.

"Okay maybe it was a little _loud_," I admit, "But pulling us into the management offices and having us tested for drugs! That's ridiculous," I say, seriously, but apparently to everyone else, I've said something hilarious. Thalia braces her hands on her knees as she laughs.

"I bet Annabeth's mom was pissed," she chuckles.

"Oh you have no idea," I say. "Annabeth literally wouldn't tell them her name for half an hour because she knew that if she told them, word would get back to her mom." I begin to roll down my window. "When Athena finally did find out, though, she was livid. But for whatever reason, I get the strangest suspicion that Annabeth actually _enjoyed_ making her mom mad."

"That's my girl," Thalia says, leaning back. "There's nothing more satisfying than earning the wrath of a neglectful parent."  
"Amen!" Piper and Jason respond in unison, and I laugh.

We begin to pull up to the outside of Annabeth's room, and the car comes to a stop. We're only waiting for a couple seconds before I see Annabeth step outside, shutting the door to her room behind her.

I feel a slight tug in my stomach at the sight of her, and quickly suppress it.

Shit, is it always going to be like this?

Beside me, Thalia scoots into the middle seat, making room for Annabeth, who gets into the car with poise, dropping her bag at her feet.

"Hey guys!" Annabeth says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey girlie." Thalia gives her a tiny hug as Jason and Piper shoot her slight waves from the front seat.

"Heard you had quite a day yesterday," Piper remarks with a teasing tone, and Annabeth goes beet red, breaking into a smile.

"Oh shut up."

I let out a laugh, despite myself, and Annabeth's head snaps in my direction, as if she has only just noticed me. Her hair is pulled back in a low ponytail, and she's dressed casually, in shorts and a baggy t-shirt that has the sleeves cut off. I blush when I notice that the shirt shows off a little bit of her sports bra.

"Hey," Annabeth says to me with a slight smile.

"Hey yourself," I respond, catching Thalia and Jason exchange knowing glances through the rear-view mirror.

Gotta love cousins.

Annabeth leans back to put her seatbelt on as Jason starts the car. Piper looks over her shoulder from the front seat.

"So," she says. "Where to?"

Jason smirks. "It's a surprise."

Thalia groans beside me. "Jason I swear to gods if you bring us to some nerdy ass museum or something, we'll impale you with a fucking dinosaur bone." I laugh before Thalia continues. "Actually scratch that, Percy, Piper, and I will impale you with a dinosaur bone. Annabeth will be too busy geeking out over the fucking evoulution exhibit or some shit."

"Yeah, I actually really wouldn't mind going to a-" Annabeth starts, but Thalia cuts her off.

"No museums!"

Jason chuckles as he drives through the last of the arches and makes a wide right out of the resort.

"Don't worry, I swear I'm not taking you to a museum," he says, and Piper visibly sags with relief in the seat in front of me.

"Oh thank gods."

We're on the main road now, and as much as I love the resort, I do have to say, it feels good to be free, and based on the way she smiles, holding her hand out the window, I would have to guess that Annabeth feels the same way.

The road trails along the California coast, and we have a great view of the ocean, which stretches out for miles and miles, seeming to go on for infinity. In New York, the beaches are smaller and all seem to be scrunched between jagged rocks and cutting waves. Here in LA, though, I am surprised by the mere _expanse _of the ocean. How the beach and the horizon appear to go on forever under the open, clear sky.

"Jason, can you _please _put on some better music?" Thalia groans from beside me, and Annabeth snorts.

"No way, Thals," Piper says, shaking her head. "No. Fucking. Way."

"But you don't even know what I'd put on!" Thalia protests. "For all you know I could be putting on Ed Sheeran or something." Her voice cracks as she says it though, betraying her.

"Thalia the day you voluntarily play Ed Sheeran is the day I'll win the nobel prize," I say, shaking my head.

"Don't sell yourself short Percy," Piper says. "I think the chances of you winning the nobel prize are significantly higher than Thalia developing good taste in music."

Annabeth laughs, shaking her head in disbelief. "There's no way her music taste is really that bad-"

"It is," Jason cuts her off. "Thalia name your top three bands."

Thals doesn't miss a beat. "Rust in Peace, Crimson Thunder, and Metallica."

Annabeth leans over laughing. "Okay, I stand corrected."

"And the infamous wise girl actually admits to being wrong for once!" I say jokingly.

This only makes Annabeth laugh harder.

"Oh I'll admit when I'm wrong," she says, and then after a moment adds, "It just rarely happens."

Jason, Piper, and Thalia crack up, and shaking my head, I smile in spite of myself. You'd never know that we only met Annabeth a couple weeks ago from the way that she fits in with our group. Her presence feels so familiar, it's as if she's another one of our friends back at Goode in New York.

The next forty five minutes go by somewhat similarly, the four of us making jabs at Thalia the whole way. We skirt the coast the whole ride, and as we get further and further from the resort, I can't help but wonder what Jason has in mind for the day. This summer is my first time in LA, and I've gotta say, I'm pretty excited to see what it has to offer. As much as I love New York, LA feels like a breath of fresh air. Kind of a weird analogy on my part though, considering it's actually like a million times more polluted here.

I look up suddenly, as Jason veers off of the main road and makes his way into a crowded line of cars, all eagerly waiting to enter somewhere.

"Jason what are we-?" Piper starts to say, but then, as Jason scoots the car up a little further, something comes into view that totally gives it away.

"No way!" Thalia says excitedly from beside me. "The Santa Monica Pier!" And then quickly whispers to Annabeth, "It's such an iconic place in movies, I low-key thought it was made up."

Annabeth laughs.

From where our car sits in line, we can see the iconic Santa Monica Pier ferris wheel towering over the boardwalk, along with the top of the roller coaster and a couple of other rides.

"Nice choice Jason," Piper says happily, and leans over to casually kiss his cheek.

"Excuse me," Thalia says, "PDA will not be permitted here unless you want me to throw both of you off the side of the ferris wheel."

I laugh. "Thalia you're afraid of heights."

"And I find their PDA so repulsive that I would be willing to subject myself to the torment of getting on that death trap just to make it stop."

Piper and Jason pull apart.

The line has finally snaked its way into the parking lot, and after a couple more minutes, we've found a spot, gotten out of the car, and made our way up to the entrance of the pier.

"This is so great," Annabeth says from beside me. "I feel like I've walked on set of a movie."

I shoot her a smile. I'm glad to see Annabeth happy like this.

All around us, tons of people all walk around, holding ice cream cones and cameras, taking pictures in front of the expansive coastline. We weave our way in and out of the game booths and through the families and tourists in line for rides. The whole place reminds me of a much tinier, sunnier version of Coney Island back in New York.

Cleaner too.

When we reach the ticket booth, we all purchase full day wristbands, already knowing that we're gonna be here for a while.

"Okay, what to first?" Piper says, and Jason and I immediately look at each other.

"Bumper cars," we say in unison, and Annabeth laughs.

"Aren't you guys a little old for bumper cars," she begins to say, but I cut her off.

"Um, excuse me. We're not talking some kiddie 'sit in a circle of cars and bump each other around' kind of thing. We're talking about an intense, refined, skill-required sport. No scratch that… _Art_."

Thalia just rolls her eyes. "Annabeth, don't try to reason with them about this, it's not worth it. They've been obsessed with bumper cars since the time they could walk, and it's totally become the bane of my existence."

Piper chimes in. "Thalia only hates it cause she sucks at bumper cars. Always ends up getting totalled."

"It's true," I pipe up, shrugging my arms. "Jason and I are the unbeatable masters, and unfortunately, little Thalia over here has simply not been blessed with the same godly powers as us."

"Godly powers..." Annabeth says, shaking her head with a smirk. "Bold statement."

"It's a bold statement for a reason," Jason says with joking cockiness.

Annabeth just continues to smirk. "Well bumper cars it is then."

We make our way over to the bumper cars, and I can't stop looking around as we walk. The iconic Santa Monica Pier roller coaster basically runs over the whole pier, and every once in a while, I nearly jump out of my skin at the noise the car makes when it zooms over the track above us.

We only have to wait in line for a little bit before the man working the bumbercars calls for a "13 and up" round, and the five of us flock in, each choosing a car and strapping up.

I look out at the circular track and smile to myself. Jason and I really are unbeatable.

The man in the booth turns on the switch to the cars and shouts, "Go!" through the speaker.

We're off.

I immediately ride up next to Jason, and we begin picking off the randos-cornering them and blocking them in so they can't get past us.

We make our way around the track, and Jason and I start laughing hysterically when we loop Thalia, who has somehow backed herself into the side of the track and is stuck, facing the entirely wrong way.

"Oh fuck off!" She shouts, flipping us off as we leave her behind, which only makes Jason and I laugh even harder.

A man in his late forties who is taking this _way _too seriously starts to try to get by us, but Jason and I quickly put him back in his place with a couple of well-aimed bumps to the side of his car.

As if someone could beat the masters.

When we get to the final lap, Jason and I are smiling, already knowing how this will end. However, we have just begun to make the last turn, when out of nowhere, I catch glimpse of a familiar blond ponytail as it wizzes by my left, completely cutting ahead of Jason and me at the turn. My jaw drops in shock, and two seconds later, we have passed the finish line.

Behind Annabeth.

"No way!" Jason shouts with a laugh as we all bump to a stop in the corral.

I feel the car begin to wind down underneath me.

"Annabeth what?" I say, still shocked. "You literally came out of nowhere!"

Annabeth just smirks and begins to unbuckle her belt. "Bumper cars is all strategy."

Piper runs over from the other side of the corral. "Annabeth that was amazing!" She laughs. "I can't believe someone finally put these too cocky assholes back in their place."

Annabeth smiles and chuckles, then stops. "Hey, where's Thalia?" She says, looking around.

I glimpse back down the track and see that Thalia still hasn't moved from where her bumper car stalled out and that two workers are now running down there to push her car back into the corral. I shake my head.

"Come on," Jason says. "We can wait for her by the exit."

When Thalia finally joins up with us, vowing that the whole thing was rigged to make her lose, we all decide to go play some games and check out some other rides. We spend the rest of the morning trying everything out. We go on the dropping ride, the scrambler, the giant swinging ride, and even one where you get strapped into a seat and flipped around like one of the little men on a foosball stick.

Jason almost pukes after that one, but other than that though (and the fact that Annabeth basically pulverizes me in every carnival game), we're all having a really good time when we finally go get lunch.

We all decide to split a giant cheese pizza and end up sitting at a picnic table by the end of the pier. Our table is right up against the railing, and we have a great view of the water. There is music playing, and a ton of people are watching some street dancers perform in a huddle over to our left.

"This must be the best pizza I've ever had," Annabeth says after taking a giant bite from one of her slices.

The rest of us burst out laughing.

Annabeth looks up in confusion. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Thalia says, patting her arm. "It's just really obvious you're from San Francisco sometimes."

"Yeah, hate to break it to you sweetie," Piper says, "But if you lived in New York, those words would never have left your mouth."

Jason grins, holding up his slice to take another bite. "It's true."

I chuckle as Annabeth rolls her eyes and continues to eat her pizza. I have just begun to wonder just how it is that she makes eating pizza one of the most entertaining things to watch, when Thalia stands up abruptly, looking at her phone.

"Luke's here," she says. "I'm gonna go meet him and bring him back here."

"I didn't know Luke was coming," Jason says, taking a swing from his soda.

"Yeah, he was busy this morning, but I invited him last minute," Thalia remarks, getting up from her spot on the bench. "I'll be back in five."

With a wave, Thalia walks off, leaving the rest of us at the picnic table to attempt finishing off the pizza. Piper leans in to grab another slice.

"So, you finally get to meet the infamous Luke," she says to Annabeth with a grin.

Annabeth chuckles. "Gotta make sure I don't get Thalia's love life mixed up again somehow, right?"

We all laugh.

A couple minutes later, Thalia waltzes up with Luke at her heels.

He wears a light blue shirt and the thin, white scar that runs down the side of his face stands out in the bright sunlight. They come to a stop, and Thalia smiles.

"Annabeth," she says, "This is Luke. Luke-Annabeth."

"It's nice to meet you," Luke says, reaching out his hand to her.

I look over at Annabeth to see that she has a slight look of deep pensiveness on her face, almost like she recognizes Luke from somewhere. The expression only lasts for a second though, before she quickly shakes herself out of it and takes Luke's outstretched hand.

"You too," Annabeth says with a smile, before retreating back into herself.

I look at her for a moment. She appears to be deep in thought over the encounter. There's no way that she could recognize Luke though, right? I mean, they don't even live in the same state. And he certainly doesn't seem to have any recollection of her.

"What do you think, Percy?" Thalia asks me, snapping me back to the conversation.

"Wha- What?" I ask, dumbly.

Thalia chuckles. "I said, what do you want to do next?"

I shake my head, casually. "Whatever you guys want. I'm good with anything."

Luke steals a piece of pizza from the table. "Have you guys gone on the ferris wheel yet? I've been dying to try it out," he says before taking a bite.

Jason pipes up. "Actually, we've been avoiding it because Thals has-"

"Been waiting for you!" Thalia jumps in, cutting him off. "Yep. Can't wait to see the view. From all the way up there…"

Jason and I exchange glances, and I shake my head.

Thalia would never admit to weakness in front of Luke. Even if it means forcing herself to do stuff she _really _doesn't want to.

Piper tries to hide her smirk behind her hand.

"Thals are you sure you-" Annabeth starts, but Thalia cuts her off.

"Yes Annabeth," she says, curtly. "I _am _sure that I've had enough pizza."

Piper tries, and fails, to stifle her laugh.

"Alright…" Jason says, teasingly. "The ferris wheel it is!"

After we've thrown away our trash and leftovers, our group makes it's way over to the ferris wheel. The line is much longer than the other ones have been, but when it's finally our turn, we step onto the platform, all loading into the pod before the worker shuts the door behind us.

Thalia looks like she wants to puke.

Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and I are trying to hold back our laughter, and Luke is just confused.

"What's so funny?" He begins to say, and Thalia quickly responds.

"Nothingahhhhh-" Thalia shouts, hastily grabbing onto Luke's arm as the ferris wheel quickly jolts to a start.

"Thalia, I'm telling him," Jason says through his laughter. "There's no way you're gonna be able to hide it."

Thalia shoots daggers at him. "Jase, I swear-" She starts, but the ferris wheel jolts again. "Gahhhh-"

"Thalia might have a slight fear of heights," I interject with a chuckle.

Luke snaps his head in her direction. "Thalia, what? Why would you get on then?"

"They're totally overreacting," she protests. "It's not that badahhhhhhh-"

We all double over with laughter.

"Thalia, you should've told me!" Luke says.

"There's nothing to tell!" Thalia protests, but her face is as white as the clouds behind her.

We're halfway to the top now, the ferris wheel jolting as it stops to let people on down below.

"Thals is too proud to admit weakness," Piper laughs.

Thalia glares at her. "Oh shut up."

Luke chuckles. "Man, I never would've guessed that you were afraid of heights," he says, shrugging. "If anything, I would've guessed that of Percy."

"Ha, me?" I say. "No way. I'm too busy having to deal with my fear of drowning."

"Drowning?" Annabeth asks me, confused. "But you literally _live _in the water."

I throw my hands up. "Hey, don't ask me. I know it doesn't make sense."

Piper looks at me, pensively. "Maybe it does," she says. "It might make sense if your fear of drowning is actually _because _you spend so much time in the water. Maybe in your head, an increased amount of time in the water means an increased chance of drowning?"

"Huh," I say thoughtfully, cocking my head to the side. "That's a really interesting theory."

"Yeah, I've never thought about it that way," pipes up Thalia, who is seeming to relax slightly from the distraction of our conversation. "But speaking of fears, don't think you can get away that easily Pipes. I'm _dying _to know what you're afraid of."

Piper shrugs. "That's easy. As cheesy as it sounds, I fear neglect. I can thank my dear old parents for that one..."

"Yeah, me too," Luke says, thoughtfully. "Nothing like neglectful parents to make you fear being alone and helpless in life."

"Jason?" I ask curious.

"Yeah definitely something along the lines of abandonment for me too," he says with a shrug, and then smirks. "Either that or making Piper's mom angry."

We all laugh.

Then, Thalia's attention turns to Annabeth and she gets a speculative look on her face. "Someone's been quiet as a mouse," Thalia says skeptically. "Spill blondie."

Annabeth blushes, covering her face with her hands.

"Ugh," she moans. "Do I have to? It's kind of really embarrassing."

"Um, excuse me?" Thalia says. The rest of us are out here spilling our souls, and you're not sharing because you're worried your fear is _embarrassing?" _

I mockingly shake my head. "That's just despicable Annabeth."

She giggles. "Alright, alright. But you have to promise not to laugh."

"Cross my heart," Jason pipes up with a smile.

"Yep," we all agree.

"Okay…" Annabeth starts hesitantly. "I'm afraid of spiders."

Thalia bursts out laughing.

Man, that is not what I was expecting.

"Thalia, you promised! Annabeth whines, covering her face with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Thalia wheezes. "But it's just… Spiders!"

I just can't hold my laughter back anymore, and join Thals in her amusement.

"Definitely wasn't expecting that from you," I say.

Piper snorts. "Spiders."

Annabeth shakes her head. "I can't believe I was dumb enough to believe you guys when you said you wouldn't laugh."

This just makes everyone laugh even more.

We've finally reached the top of the ferris wheel, and I've got to say, the view is spectacular.

And then I look away from Annabeth and notice that the view of the horizon is pretty great too.

The sea seems to go on for miles, an endless expanse of blue. I notice just how much smaller the waves and the pier look from up here; the people below us turning to ants before my very eyes. I feel like I'm on top of the world.

Unfortunately, apparently so does Thalia, who, like me, seems to notice just how much higher we are now that our previous conversation is no longer distracting her.

"Gahhh," she groans and quickly hops into the center of the pod, sitting on the floor by our feet and hugging the center pole.

"Thals, I don't think you're aloud to-" Jason starts to say.

"I swear to gods Jason I will act on my earlier promise to pitch you off the side," Thalia threatens him from her place on the floor.

Jason shuts up.

We go around the ferris wheel about two more times before we finally have to get off. It takes a while for the ride to unload everyone, but when it finally does, we begin making our way from the ferris wheel and back over to the food area to get dippin' dots. Thalia and Luke lead the way, chatting closely together with Piper and Jason close behind, which leaves me and Annabeth to bring up the rear.

"That was fun," Annabeth says to me, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I honestly can't remember the last time I was on a ferris wheel. Or on any ride for that matter."

I shoot her a sad glance, but she doesn't even notice. Annabeth just keeps walking along with that energetic spring to her step I've grown so used to over the past couple weeks.

"What, no good rides in San Fran?" I joke.

"No…" Annabeth starts pensively. "Just no good incentive I guess."

Suddenly, I wonder again about what Annabeth's home life is like. She told me that she lives with her dad and her step-family throughout the year, and usually stays with her mom in the summers, but aside from that, I really don't know much.

"Are you and you're dad close?" I ask, hesitantly.

Annabeth doesn't miss a beat. "No. He's barely ever home. Collectively, I probably see him even less than my mom. He's always away on some business trip or another, teaching at this or that prestigious University. And my stepmom and I can't stand each other. She's basically satan incarnate, so I keep my distance as much as I can. I have a scholarship to this all girls private school on the outskirts of the city though, which helps a lot."

The way Annabeth says it isn't like she feels bad for herself or anything though. She simply says it like she's stating a fact.

"I'm sorry," I say.

Annabeth shoots me a slight grin. "Everyone has their demons, right?"

I laugh, thinking of Gabe, my last step father before Paul. My life was pretty much a living hell before he dropped out of it.

"You can say that again."

Annabeth and I walk in a comfortable silence, trailing behind the others for a couple of minutes, before I see something that catches my eye.

"Hey guys!" I yell to the others. "We'll catch up with you in a second. I just wanna check something out."

Thalia shrugs and keeps walking.

"Don't be gone too long," Jason says with a smirk, before turning to follow Thalia. "I couldn't really care less about you, but I know we'll all be missing Annabeth."

Annabeth laughs out loud and elbows me teasingly.

"Ha-ha, Jason" I sarcastically shout back, but smile nonetheless.

I put my hand on the small of Annabeth's back and guide her towards where I spotted it.

"Percy, where are we going?" She starts to say, but then stops suddenly, and I can tell she sees it now too.

"Oh my gosh," Annabeth remarks. "I haven't seen one of those in forever."

Just ahead of us is a full-scale photo booth with a curtain and photo strips like the ones you come across at carnivals. We make our way towards it, and I hold the curtain open for Annabeth as she climbs in. I hop in right behind her.

As soon as I release the curtain, the entire booth goes pitch black, save for the screen in front of us, and I feel as though we're no longer at the pier at all, but rather in some secluded world, all to ourselves.

"This is great," Annabeth laughs, and begins flipping through the different picture options on the screen, selecting photo sizes and background colors. I watch her as she does, completely infatuated with how she is able to get so invested in such a simple task. Little things bring Annabeth so much joy, and I think that that's one of the things I like most about her.

"Do you have a five?" Annabeth asks, looking back at me over with a grin.

I pass her the five I had ready in my hand, and she proceeds to insert the bill into the slot, having to turn it over twice before it finally takes, and I laugh at her frustration.

When Annabeth finally leans back into the seat, I become suddenly very aware of just how close we are. I'm hypersensitive of her touch in a way that I'm not with other people. It's like I can feel every individual particle of her skin electrically connecting to every one of mine.

The timer begins to count down on the screen, and I stick out my tongue grotesquely as Annabeth crosses her eyes.

3\. 2. 1.

The flash goes off, and when the picture flashes across the screen, we both burst out laughing.

"You look ridiculous," Annabeth says to me.

"Me? You look downright frightening."

The screen begins to count down again.

3\. 2. 1.

This time, Annabeth opens her mouth wide, pretending to attack me shark-style, and I pretend-squint my eyes in fear. The picture flashes across the screen, and our laughter only intensifies.

3\. 2. 1.

We're too busy laughing our asses off to make a face for this one, and the camera catches mid-laugh.

The words "Last One!" flash across the screen, and I'm grinning like crazy as the camera counts down one last time.

3\. 2. 1.

And just as the camera flashes, I feel Annabeth grip my left shoulder between her hands as she leans over and kisses my cheek.

Holy shit.

People classify happiness as a mental emotion, but in that moment, I swear that happiness is something physical. I feel it rise up in me from my gut and project itself in every inch of my face.

I wouldn't be able to control that smile, even if I wanted to, because when that kind of _physical happiness _takes over your body, there's nothing you can do about it. You're simply no longer in control.

Annabeth pulls back, beaming with laughter. She looks beautiful.

The words "Have a Nice Day!" Flash across the screen, and in that moment, I can't even imagine what a not-nice day would look like. Being unhappy doesn't seem comprehensible right now.

Annabeth and I sit there in the dark for a moment, the light from the screen illuminating our faces like the screens of times square lighting up a New York night.

Only Annabeth is so much _more_ than New York.

"Let's check out the pictures," I say, turning to pull back the curtain.

Light floods into the photobooth, and Annabeth and I step out, re-entering the outside world.

We reach down to pick up our photostrips from the slot and break out into another fit of laughter when we see how great they turned out. It's my new favorite photo.

Even as we head back to the group, and spend the remaining hour playing more games and going on rides, I don't stop grinning at the photo. I continually pull it out, and a surge of happiness runs through me every time I look at it.

And when it's finally dark outside, as we sit in the car riding back to the resort, I tuck that photostrip into the ID slot in my wallet. Because I know that now, I will never want to go another day without looking at it.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Annabeth POV

The earliest evidence of the existence of coffee was found to be in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen in the 15th century, the trend vastly spreading over the Middle East soon after. As the world became more globalized, the growing desire for coffee became incredibly wide spread, and now, hundreds of years later, my own caffeine addiction suffers as a result. The only good part of this, however, is that it gets me through those tasks which I would otherwise rather not be doing.

I'm currently sitting at the large, modern, glass table in my hotel room. Its covered in various books, scribbled post-it notes, and of course, empty coffee cups.

For the past four hours, I've been scouring the books I checked out from the library on Saturday, each one outlining various city regulations regarding environmental codes and required safety conditions, etc. I've been looking for some clue as to why the files I had found while working in my mom's office were labeled confidential, but so far, I've turned up absolutely nothing.

I look again to the photos I took of the confidential files, which I printed out this morning for safe keeping. The heading of the files reads, OLYMPUS COAST ENVIRONMENTAL STATISTICS and a large, red confidential stamp runs across the first page. I flip through each of the photos for the millionth time, reading over every test I highlighted or underlined, but nothing seems to be out of the ordinary, no matter how hard I look.

According to the tests in the files, all of Olympus Coast environment's chemical compositions meet what I had read in the books to be the appropriate levels. All of the regulations appear to be up to date, and the construction all perfectly legal. But if that was the case, then why on earth is the file labeled confidential?

I need more coffee.

Leaving everything as is, I get up and make my way over to the kitchen area. I'm already in the middle of pouring myself another cup when my phone buzzes from my back pocket, making me jump. I put down my mug and pull out my phone to see that I have just gotten a text from my mom.

ANNABETH WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU DONE NOW?!

I don't get confused about my mom's anger often. It's usually pretty easy to tell what she's mad about, mostly because she has a tendency to be blatant and not sugar coat anything. It's typically, _Annabeth you better not look like a slob tonight! _Or _I_ _swear to Gods Annabeth, if you're late again…_

Long story short, while angry orders are certainly my mom's style, vagueness of any sort is not.

WHAT? I type, genuinely curious as to what I did this time. I'm trying, but I really can't recall anything.

The text bubble pops up to tell me that my mom is typing back.

OH DON'T PRETEND LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW YOUNG LADY. GET YOUR ASS TO THE COLOSSEUM NOW.

Frankly, I'm a little scarred. My mom's a scary person to begin with, but she rarely loses her cool. Her reputation and professionalism are too important to her. Whatever I did to make her react this way, it must be bad.

I quickly duck into the bedroom to get dressed.

It's almost 4:00, and I've basically been inside in my pajamas all day. It's the first week day in a while that I haven't had to go intern in the resort office, and Thalia and everyone have work today, resulting in my complete and utter nose dive into the mystery of the confidential files.

Man I need a life.

As soon as I'm dressed, I throw my hair up and grab my skateboard, heading out the door. I move down the walk streets pretty quickly, and even take a couple of the short cuts I've learned over the past two weeks.

I have just pulled up to the front of the resort when all of a sudden, a terrifying thought occurs to me. _What if my mom found out about the pictures I took of the confidential files? _

Shit.

I have a brief moment where I think I'm going to be sick. What was I thinking? I have no place to be meddling in problems that don't involve me. I'm just a kid, and even if there was an issue, I wouldn't be able to do anything. I swear to gods, sometimes I think my pride is my fatal flaw.

Fatal.

My mom is going to kill me.

I'm about to grab my board and bolt in the other direction, when out of nowhere, the front doors of the resort fly open.

"Annabeth," my mom says sternly. "In. Now."

She looks as powerful as ever, and the fact that she stands a good ten steps above me doesn't exactly shift the power dynamic in my favor. I make my way up the steps, and when I get to the top, I notice that my mom's heels still give her a good six inches on me even though we're basically the same height. From the clench in her jaw, and the familiar twitch in her lip, I can tell that whatever anger frenzy she was in when she texted me earlier is now over and that she has resumed her usual collectedness. However, that most certainly doesn't mean her fury is gone. Lava is just as hot inside the volcano as it is outside of it.

I move past her into the lobby, and we make our way through the guests and hotel staff, my mom's casual strides not hinting in the slightest as to what she is feeling internally. One of my earliest memories of me with my mom quickly pops into my head where I'm about six years old, and I'm about to accompany her into a business meeting. My mom leans down and tilts my chin upwards with her pointer finger. _Appearances are everything, _she had said. Obviously, this is still her moto.

We step into the elevator, and the doors shut close behind us.

It's an awkward ride up. Neither of us say anything. My mom's stance is totally casual though, so to an outsider, we'd probably just look like a couple of strangers. That is, if you were to ignore the fact that I basically look like a miniature version of her.

My palms are sweating, and I can't help but be terrified. If my mom really did find out that I took those photos of her confidential files, I'd be in all kinds of trouble.

When we get out, we walk towards my mom's office, my heart rate increasing with every step. I pause in front of her door, glancing sideways for permission.

"Open it," my mom says with a shrug.

I do. And whatever I had been scared of seeing immediately vanishes from my mind, a whole new fear of its own taking over. I glance back at my mom for reassurance, but her face says it all. _This is your problem… _

I swallow, turning away from my mom, and back towards the office. "Wha- What are you doing here?" I ask.

The woman before me has her long, dark hair curled in ringlets, and I can see that she has added some subtle red highlights in at the ends. She wears a red skirt suit with these tall red pumps to match-probably trying to make up for her own lack of height. As she turns around, I'm suddenly taken over by a most unsettling feeling.

But unsettling is simply a word that has always been synonymous with my stepmother.

"Hello Annabeth," Helen says with a smile that's too pretty and too perfect to be any sort of genuine. Her smile reminds me almost of a press on nail, only able to be unchipped because it's fake. She certainly wears her smile like one would wear a manicure. Like a smile is just another accessory to enhance your appearance. I suddenly wonder again how Helen and my mom can be so alike and hate each other so much at the same time.

My mom grits her teeth. "Helen here says that you told her your whole family is welcome to stay here free of charge, Annabeth. Isn't that wonderful?"

"I- I didn't," I start, but Helen cuts me off.

"Your father will be arriving in a half an hour. He's flying in from Denver-had some business to attend to." Then she looks at my mom. "You know how that can be."

My mom clenches her fists. "Helen we really don't have any availability-" My mom starts to say.

"Nonsense," Helen replies. "We're family." Then the edge of her lips pull up into a sneer. "I'm sure it would reflect very badly on the Resort if its facilities were really so subpar that they couldn't even accommodate _the architect's family_."

And that's when I know we've lost the battle. Like I said, appearances are everything to my mom.

"You know what Helen, you're right," my mom says, forcing a smile. "I'm sure we can figure something out. Why don't you head down to the concierge, and I'll make some calls."

Helen smiles, looking at my mom with feigned pleasantry. "Thank you so much, Athena." She then turns her attention to me. "Come on Annabeth, let's go."

"M-me?" I say, surprised.

Helen looks at me as though it should be obvious that I'm supposed to be coming down with her.

"Your father will be here in a little bit. It would be disrespectful if his only daughter didn't think it worth her time to come and see him."

I look to my mom. "But legally, the summer is my mom's time—"

My mom shoots me a pitying glance. "Go Annabeth. I'll see you tonight if you want."

I feel a sudden anger boiling deep in my chest, and find myself wishing that I really had been caught for taking photos of the confidential files. Any punishment for that would be better than this.

Helen begins to make her way out the door and down the hall.

My mom leans in closely to me and whispers in my ear. "I'm sorry that I was taking my anger out on you earlier. That wasn't fair of me. But this is something we have to deal with now, okay, so just put on a strong face." She gives my hand a squeeze, and I honest to gods think it's probably the second time she's even touched me since my first arriving here.

My mom heads over to her desk without a second glance back at me, and I find myself following Helen down the hall, her heels clicking with every step she takes. I'm caught between two mothers, both of whom have their backs towards me, and both of whom need me to do something for them. It makes me sick to my stomach.

I follow Helen into the elevator.

Where my mom upholds her appearance being closed doors, Helen does not. As soon as the elevator doors slide shut behind us, she leans on the wall, sinking into herself, and starting to clean her nails. I roll my eyes. Helen couldn't be more fake. At least my mom's composure is genuine.

Helen doesn't say a word to me the whole ride down, nor I a word to her, and when the doors finally open, she snaps back to attention like a soldier, replaces her press-on smile, and heads over to the concierge. I sit on the nearest chair and put my head in my hands.

Ever since I was little, other than school, the summer has always been my only escape from Helen. She hates me. I think it's because I'm a constant reminder that my dad doesn't belong 100% to her, that his world doesn't revolve entirely around her and her family. But I guess that Helen's desire to stay at one of the most expensive and acclaimed resorts in the world must be pretty big, if she's willing to put up with me for it.

I sit in that chair for at least fifteen minutes, and when Helen heads back over in my direction, she leaves no room for sentiment.

"Let's go," she says, and heads down one of the halls. We walk for a little bit, passing everything I have become so accustomed to over these past couple weeks. We pass the library, the teen area, the restaurants, the gift shops. I feel invaded, almost, having Helen walk down these halls. I feel like she's stomping all over a place that has become a personal escape to me, dragging all of our baggage with her and littering the resort's halls with it.

Helen comes to a stop in front of the resort's restaurants. It has big, glass windows and looks down over the pool in the center of the Colosseum, as most of the restaurants here do. It's incredibly fancy. Everyone in the restaurant is dressed in business suits and pencil skirts. Helen smiles sweetly at the woman behind the podium.

"Table for five."

"Right this way," the woman says.

I grab Helen's arm. "We can't go here, I'm way too underdressed!"

She just shrugs out of my grasp and follows the maitre'd.

As we walk, I feel incredibly self-conscious. I can feel people's eyes on me as we walk past, looking dismissively at my flip-flops and t-shirt. I hate Helen for subjecting me to this. It's like she only chose this restaurant because she knew it would lead to the most embarrassment on my part. My dad doesn't even like fancy restaurants.

"Thank you," Helen says sweetly to the maitre'd when we arrive at the table. She then sits down with all the grace of a princess. My dad makes good money, so Helen is used to having the best, but even despite that, I can already feel the resort going to her head.

I pick up a menu and pretend to read it over, but I can't focus on the words.

"Where are Bobby and Matthew?" I ask.

Helen doesn't look at me when she responds.

"They're in a tennis lesson. Frederick will pick them up on his way here."

I roll my eyes. A tennis lesson? Really?

"How long are you planning on staying here?" I ask Helen. She pretends not to hear me.

We order our drinks, and sit in silence for several minutes afterwards.

I look out the window to try to pass the time. As soon as I do though, I immediately feel like the world's biggest stalker.

Along with all the families playing in the pool, and the couples dining at the poolside restaurant, I spot none other than Percy. He sits in his lifeguard's chair, crossing his legs and looking official. I feel a tug in the bottom of my stomach.

His hair is slightly wet, and he smiles at a group of kids who are playing nearby him. The tug in my stomach grows, expanding to my chest and my arms and the tips of my fingers.

It almost hurts to look at him.

I know its ridiculous, but I almost feel like Rapunzel, locked in a tower, looking down at my freedom from a high window.

But this isn't a fairytale. The window is glass, and my captor sits across from me, sipping a martini.

I continue to sneak glances at Percy as the next couple of minutes go by. He holds all of my attention, preventing me from going insane with anger and boredom, that is until a certain tall man with sandy hair steps into the restaurant.

My dad heads over to our table with an air of confidence. My stepbrothers Bobby and Matthew stalk behind him in tow, both of whom happen to be wearing button downs, despite the fact that they just came from a tennis lesson. I glare at Helen.

She and I stand up, and as soon as my dad reaches us, he gives Helen a slight peck on the cheek. I flash a smile at Bobby and Matthew, which they return casually. When my dad pulls away from Helen, he makes an awkward move to hug me.

"Hi Annabeth," he says slightly.  
"Hi dad," I reply. He pulls away, and we all take our seats.

My dad was on a business trip when I left San Fran, and it's been at least a month since I last saw him. He feels like a total stranger to me, like he's some distant relative I'm required to say hello to and hug at family functions, but who I don't really know despite that.

It's amazing to me how Helen's demeanor completely shifts when my dad is around. She stops ignoring me and starts looking at me in the same way she looks at Bobby and Matthew, like I'm another one of her children.

"So, Annabeth," my dad starts, awkwardly, trying to make conversation. "How's school been?"

I just stare at him. It's ridiculous that he's even asking me that. I literally live at his house throughout the school year.

But I just say, "Good," and proceed to take a sip of water.

I think we all feel that that's enough forced conversation for one day, and Helen takes over now, telling Frederick all about the resort, and how nice it was for my mom to let us stay here. She drones on about the facilities and how Bobby and Matthew can get better at Tennis so that they'll be on the varsity team when they start at some prestigious private school next year. My dad just nods his head.

I'm used to meals like this, where Helen pretends we're all one big happy family in front of my father, boasting about Bobby and Matthew, smiling, and holding my dad's hand. And he's almost no better than her. My dad pretends like he was never gone in the first place, nodding along, and leaning his elbow on the back of her chair.

He has no idea that we only have meals like this on the rare occasion that he's home. He has no idea that, despite the fact that I live in his house for nine months out of the year, I'm never even there. He has no idea that I spend almost two hours on the bus getting to school everyday and that I do a million extracurriculars and that I'm so tired by the end of the day that sometimes I stay at a friend's house and don't even bother coming home because it's just easier that way. He has no idea that anytime I do that, Helen doesn't even notice, or if she does notice, she doesn't care. He's ignorant to it all.

Or maybe he isn't. Maybe he knows that we have problems, and like Helen, and my mom, and everyone else in my life, he just pretends.

Sometimes I feel like nothing in my life is really real. Like everything I know could vanish in the blink of an eye.

All I want in my life is something _real. _Something that I know would last through thick and thin. Something permanent.

But this isn't a fairytale.

We order our food, and everything goes on just as it has for the past seventeen years of my life. I sit there, I use my manners, and I listen to Helen drone on. I watch as my dad nods his head to her words, like he cares what she has to say. I watch as Bobby and Matthew shift uncomfortably in their button downs, not complaining.

Never complaining.

And when we've finished our meal, and paid the bill, I hug my dad goodbye, and I tell him that I hope he likes the resort, because that's what I'm supposed to do.

I pretend that I'm okay with them being here. I pretend like I don't feel they have violated my privacy by coming to the resort while it's my time with my mom. I pretend that everything is fine. I pretend, I pretend, I pretend.

It's dark out when I finally get back to my room. I'm exhausted and ready to go to bed early, but when I open the door and see all of the books and photocopies of files I left lying out, I know that I won't be so lucky. I need to finish what I was doing.

I begin working at 7:00, and I'm still going strong at 11:00. I spend hours reading every single book and researching the dates of every single environmental law and statistic they encompass. At this point, I probably know more about Olympus Cove environmental standards than the person who created the laws in the first place. The clock on the wall reads 11:30 when I figure that it's probably time that I stop.

I've got to admit, I'm pretty mad. How is it that I wasn't able to find anything telling me why those files were labeled confidential? _Maybe it was a mistake, _I try to reason with myself, but I know I don't believe it.

I have to be missing something.

I begin to close all of the books and stack all of the papers into neat piles. Once I've put my pens back in the drawer and closed up my laptop, the only thing left on the table are the photocopies of the files themselves.

Against my better judgement, I pick up the photos, and head over to the couch, where I begin reading through everything one last time. I scan every line, I analyze every graph, but when I finally reach the last page, I simply stare at it, unsurprised that I didn't find anything. In my frustration, I keep staring at the last page, scanning it over. I run my eyes over the lines and the citations.

Nothing.

I'm just about to set the file down and retire for the night, when all of a sudden, though, I see something that catches my eye.

Down in the right hand corner of the page is a tiny symbol that I hadn't noticed before. It looks like an upside down ancient greek omega symbol.

I quickly pull my phone out of my pocket to look it up.

It takes me a couple of minutes, but I finally find a link that leads me to some fire-wall blocked company website that has the very same logo that is in the file. I can't do much within the website because of the fire-wall, but from what is displayed on the website's homepage, I read over the given information.

And when I finally finish, everything makes sense.

The logo belongs to a company that creates forgeries of important environmental studies. They create fake environmental test results for corporations that aren't following government environmental policy and regulation, so that the corporations don't get caught.

The Olympus Coast Environmental Statistics file I found in my mom's office must be a forgery, then. The file was only labeled confidential to hide that logo, so that no one would find out the information was fake. The reason I couldn't find anything wrong with the information and test results inside it is because that information is all false, created for the purpose of appearances.

Just like everything else in my life, the information in that file is pretend. It is simply lies that people are putting out to make it seem like everything is good and fine.

But life isn't a fairytale.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Percy POV

I was bored. And not just "Oh I'll go play some Halo" bored, but like, "I've been playing Halo for five hours straight" bored.

Jason's best friend Leo from back in New York is here visiting for a couple of days, so Jason and Piper have been gone all afternoon hanging out with him. Meanwhile, Thals has been spending every day this week with Luke, leaving me, well, six levels further into Halo.

Not to mention, as childish as it might sound, all this free time is making me pretty homesick. I've never been away from New York for this long before, and I'm really starting to miss it. Seeing Jason with Leo is really making me miss Grover, my own best friend back home. I also miss my mom. I call her and Paul at least every other day, but something about talking on the phone just isn't the same as being there in person. And as much as I love my dad, he's crazy busy right now, and he hasn't had nearly as much time to spend with me as we both thought he would. He's still working his ass off trying to get his research permits for work, and its stressing him out a lot because with every day that goes by, all the money spent on renting out his equipment is just going down the drain. I just wish that whoever is putting these ridiculous blockades on the research permit obtainment process knows how much trouble they're causing for everyone else. What reason could they possibly have for preventing non-invasive marine biology research?

I finally set down my controller and turn off the tv. When I attempt to stand up, I find that my legs have totally cramped up from sitting down for so long, and I immediately plop back down on the couch.

Looking longingly at my cell phone, which rests teasingly on my coffee table, I know that the solution to my boredom is right in front of me, but I just can't bring myself to pick up the phone. It's only been a couple of days since Annabeth and I were last together, and I really don't want to seem needy by texting to ask if she wants to hang out.

I finally stand up, getting over my leg cramps. _You don't need her_, I tell myself. _There's plenty of other ways to keep yourself entertained. _But that's one of the things about my ADHD that annoys me the most. I almost always feel the need to be around other people. I feel claustrophobic when I'm alone, as if my own inability to keep myself interested is a trap, closing in further and further with every second I'm alone.

"Okay fine!" I shout out loud and pick up the phone.

I quickly send Annabeth a text asking if she wants to hang out, and as soon as I do, I instantly regret it and throw my phone back onto the coffee table.

"So stupid," I mumble to myself as I walk over to the kitchen. "She's gonna think you're obsessed with her." _Which you kind of are, _says a small voice in the back of my brain. "Oh shut up."

Popping a cup of noodles into the microwave, I begin to head into my bedroom to change, when all of a sudden, I hear my phone chime from the coffee table.

I immediately pull a 180, hopping over the couch as fast as I can, tripping over pillows as I do. I look at my phone screen to see a response from Annabeth.

YES! MEET ME AT THE COLOSSEUM!

I quickly do a fistbump in the air before dashing into my bedroom and changing as quickly as I can. When I'm finally ready, I grab my skateboard and I'm out the door.

It's super nice out today, just like it is pretty much every day in Los Angeles. The resort is teeming with families, all walking around and enjoying the sun. I pass the tennis courts, the golf course, and a couple of gift shops before the familiar roman arches of the Colosseum come into view.

As soon as I find a spot on the bike rack for my skateboard, I head up the massive front steps and into the crowded lobby. A familiar warm breeze coming from the Colosseum's open windows hits me as I step through the door, and I'm reminded again of just how lucky I am that I get to stay in such a beautiful place.

I'm about to pull out my phone to text Annabeth and ask where she is, when all of a sudden I feel someone jump on me from behind, wrapping their arms around my shoulders. I let out a little laugh, knowing exactly who it is.

"Hey wise girl," I say as I turn around. I'm immediately face to face with Annabeth, and I notice for the millionth time just how much her stormy grey eyes remind me of the ocean.

"Hey yourself," Annabeth says, and blushes when she realizes her arms are still around my shoulders. She quickly pulls them to her sides. "You made pretty good time getting here, considering your skateboard is probably a million years old."

I roll my eyes. "You're just jealous."

Annabeth laughs, and the blond curls that have escaped her ponytail bounce as she does.

I clear my throat. "So, what do you want to do?"

Annabeth smirks. "Honestly, I've been dying to check out the teen area. I feel like I've passed by it a million times, but I've never actually been inside."

"The teen area it is." I jokingly hold out my arm for her to take, like they did in the olden days, and she smacks it away with a grin, shaking her head.

"No chivalry, remember?"

"Just thought I'd try," I laugh.

We walk in a comfortable silence for a little bit before finally coming across the big double doors that lead into the teen area. Annabeth rushes ahead to hold the door open for me.

"After you," she kids, motioning for me to enter.

I just shake my head, smiling. "Don't you ever get bored of that?"

Annabeth doesn't miss a beat. "Never."

As soon as I step through the door, I'm greeted by the smell of buttered popcorn, and notice that they've added a giant popcorn maker over by the kitchen since I was last here about a week ago. The walls throughout the teen area are pretty much all made of glass, and we have a great view of the pool and the center of the Colosseum from up here. The entire place reminds me of when you first walk into the apple store at the mall, because in addition to the big glass windows, there's dozens of long tables with high stools and charging stations where teenagers sit, talking to one another and working on their computers.

"This is incredible," Annabeth says from beside me, completely awe-struck.

Brightly colored bean bags litter the floor, and neon lights hang from the ceiling, giving the whole place a sort of modern, techno vibe. Annabeth heads over to the kitchen area, and I trail behind her. The kitchen is laid out almost like a salad bar at a grocery store, and there are multiple islands where teenagers stand around, piling food onto their plates.

"I have so much to learn," Annabeth mumbles with a grin.

"What do you mean?" I ask her.

Annabeth snaps her head up to look at me. "Oh, I want to be an architect when I'm older."

I grin. "Like your mom?"

"Exactly," Annabeth says. "Though I'd like to think that I would've come to that conclusion myself. Even if she wasn't an architect."

I smile. I like how passionate Annabeth is about her career path.

"Come on," she says to me. "Let's go check out the back." Annabeth grabs my hand, leading me away, and I immediately pray that my palms aren't sweaty.

The back area is full of arcade games and table games like foosball and air hockey, as well as some sitting areas and booths like the ones you'd find at a restaurant.

"Wow," Annabeth says. "This is amazing!"

I'm very aware of the fact that Annabeth is still holding my hand as she leads me through the tables and groups of other kids.

I stop short. "Oh no way."

"What?" Annabeth asks, turning towards me, the smile dropping from her face.

"You know what?" I say, trying to change the subject. "It's nothing. Let's just play some skee ball or something."

I don't fool her. Annabeth turns her head towards where I was looking, and her eyes widen.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," she grumbles.

In a booth in the far corner, where the lighting is darker and there are less people, Drew Tanaka and Dylan Ventus sit huddled together, chatting closely.

"I've only been here for like three weeks, and already, Drew is the literal bane of my existence," Annabeth states definitely. "She's hated me ever since I snubbed her on my first day at the resort."

"The guy next to her is a prick too," I add. "His name's Dylan. He was vaping by the pool the other day around a bunch of little kids, and wouldn't stop when I asked him to."

"Jesus, what a prick."

"Couldn't agree more."

"We have to go evesdrop on their conversation."

"What wha-," I start, but Annabeth is already pulling me around the edge of the room.

"Annabeth I don't-"

"Shhh…" She cuts me off.

I shut up.

Careful to make sure that Drew and Dylan don't spot us, we continue to scale the wall, ducking down as we quickly slide into the booth next to them. The sides of the booth are tall enough that people can't see over into the next booth unless they were to literally stand up on the seat and peer over, and I'm glad to say that I feel like Drew and Dylan probably won't be doing that anytime soon.

Annabeth and I huddle together and start listening to Drew and Dylan's conversation. They're both ridiculously loud, so it isn't that difficult. Drew's voice rings out, whiney as ever.

"Literally Dylan, she's not even pretty."

"I didn't say she was pretty, I said she was hot," he groans.

Annabeth and I meet eyes, and I can tell that, like me, she's trying really hard not to burst out laughing.

"You know she has a boyfriend, right?" Drew protests.

"That's never stopped me before," Dylan boasts, and I can practically hear Drew rolling her eyes.

Annabeth buries her face into my shoulder to keep from laughing. What we're doing would feel totally wrong if it were anyone else, but since it's Drew and Dylan, I honestly couldn't feel less bad about eavesdropping. I'm suddenly curious to know who it is they're talking about.

"Oh don't act all high and mighty," Dylan says suddenly. "We both know that you've been all over her boyfriend since the moment he got here."

"Oh shut up," Drew says, but doesn't deny it.

My curiosity is growing bigger and bigger. Who could they possibly be talking about?

"But I'm hotter than her, right?" Drew asks.

"I don't know," Dylan responds. "Piper is _pretty _damn hot."

My jaw drops. Annabeth and I look at each other, eyes wide. Dylan was talking about Piper. And that means that Drew is into Jason?

"I honestly _cannot_ believe you just said that," Drew yells, and we hear the sound of a slap come from their booth.

"Hey, what was that for?" Dylan whines loudly.

Drew storms up, grabbing her purse. "If you want to go after _whores_, then don't let me stop you."

Beside me, I feel Annabeth prepare to storm after Drew, but I grab her, pulling her down next to me.

"Percy!" Annabeth aggressively whispers to me, but I just shake my head and point up. Dylan is now standing up too.

"Drew, baby, I'm sorry. Come back," he says, going after her.

Ducking even further down in the booth so they can't see us, Annabeth and I watch as Drew storms away, Dylan following after her.

As soon as they're out of sight, Annabeth and I sit up.

"I swear I'm gonna murder her one day," Annabeth says shaking her head.

"We can do it together," I say. "A team effort."

After a moment Annabeth and I lock eyes, and out of nowhere we both just start laughing.

"That was wild," she says.

"Tell me about it."

"I mean, Piper and Jason are totally causing problems between Drew and this Dylan guy, and they don't even know it."

I shrug. "It's karma."

Annabeth laughs. "We're good at that, you know," she says with a smirk.

"Good at what?"

"Eavesdropping, sneaking around, I don't know. We could totally be partners in crime."

I chuckle. "Percy and Annabeth: The dynamic duo."

Annabeth smiles. "Exactly."

A couple of moments go by in which we just sit there in a comfortable silence. I suddenly become very aware of just how close we're sitting to one another. It's like every spot on my body that touches hers has been set aflame out of nowhere. Our shoulders, the ends of our arms, the length of our legs. I've never been aware of anyone like this before.

I look at Annabeth closely as she begins tracing her finger over words people have etched into the tabletop. She's completely concentrated, her eyebrows knitting together in captivation. I look at the tips of her eyelashes, the line of her jaw, the crook of her neck, and I feel like my heart rate increases with every moment that this fire continues burning between us. I'm obviously into this girl.

I quickly look away.

When I first met Annabeth, I didn't really mind flirting with her and being confident in my actions toward her because I was pretty sure she felt the same way. But after all of the awkwardness that happened a couple of weeks ago, I really have no idea anymore. And I don't want to risk what we have now to find out.

"Percy?" Annabeth asks, snapping me out of my daze. She's looking over at me sideways and has the sleeves of her shirt extended so that they cover her hands. She's obviously been deep in thought over something, and a somber expression has taken over her face.

"Yeah?"

Annabeth meets my eyes before lightly saying, "Tell me about your mom."

Okay, I was not expecting that. I've only told Annabeth the very basics about my mom, and I have to think about what I want to say for a minute before I finally open by mouth to speak.

"When I was little, I had a really terrible stepfather," I start. "I didn't know it at the time, but he would constantly abuse my mom. It's like he thought she was his property."

Annabeth is completely turned towards me now, a look of deep concern painted across her features.

"Percy, I'm so sorry," she says. I give her a light shrug.

"Anyway, the earliest memory I have of my mom standing up to him was during this really stupid argument they were having. Blue had always been by favorite color, so my mom wanted to make blue food for me as a special treat one day, but Gabe, my stepdad, said that there was no such thing." I move my eyes up to Annabeth's. "And for whatever reason, _that_ is what set my mom over the edge. I guess it was just the idea that he was telling her something was impossible. From that day forward, she went out of her way to make blue food. Every meal, whatever she could. Blue pancakes, blue pasta, blue cookies. She worked at a candy store and would always bring me back the blue candy because she knew I loved it. I think that it was my mom's way of standing up to Gabe. Her way of showing her love for me, but also her way of finding her strength."

Annabeth looks at me in a way that she's never looked at me before, like she can see past every barrier I've ever built.

"But yeah," I say. "That's the kind of person my mom is. The kind of person who makes blue food."

Slowly, Annabeth grabs my hand, lacing her fingers between mine. And very tentatively, she carefully leans her head on my shoulder.

"I would love to meet her some day."

I smile. "You will."

I rest my head on top of Annabeth's, noticing for the first time just how much her hair smells like sage. She and I just sit there like that for a while, tucked away in our own private corner of the world.

"I'm sorry I didn't reach out to you sooner Percy," Annabeth says. When she talks, I feel her head bob lightly beneath my cheek. "I've just been really busy this week. My family decided to take advantage of the resort and come down here, so I've basically been fed up with that all week."

"Are you alright?" I ask. I know that Annabeth doesn't exactly have the best relationship with her dad and stepfamily.

"Yeah." Annabeth says, and nuzzles her head closer into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry that I didn't reach out to you earlier either," I say, lightly. "My dad's been super stressed out lately, and it's kind of been wearing on me. He's trying to get his local research permits for work, but some big influencer is putting all of these roadblocks in his way, and he's losing a lot of money because of it."

Annabeth tenses beneath me, and quickly pulls away to look at me. "Wait Percy, your dad is a marine biologist and environmental researcher, right."

"Yeah."

"And the research permits he's trying to obtain are for right around here, right?"

"Yeah," I say slowly. "Why?"

I can practically see the gears turning behind Annabeth's eyes, her mind stitching connections together like threads between fabric. After a moment, she snaps out of it though.

"Nothing," Annabeth says hesitantly. She then turns the other way again, settling her head back into its resting place on my shoulder. "I'm just sorry you both have to go through that."

I place my head back on top of hers, feeling the comfort of Annabeth's presence flow through me like a breath of fresh air.

Fresh air, apparently, is just what we both so desperately need right now.

"Thanks wise girl," I whisper lightly, not even knowing if she can hear me. But after a moment, Annabeth responds in a tone equally as soft.

"No. Thank you seaweed brain."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Annabeth POV

I'm sitting at the dining table in my room doing one last comb through of the confidential files when I hear a knock on the door that makes me jump out of my seat. It's about 10:00 at night, so I literally have no idea who it could be. That is, until Thalia opens her mouth, cause once she does that, there's no mistaking that it's her.

"Annabeth Chase open this door right now! There is no way I'm letting you hermit out on me tonight!"

I roll my eyes, smirking. The truth is, I was feeling a bit lonely, and I'm glad I have someone like Thalia to make sure I don't cave in on myself. I begin packing everything up, closing the books I have sprawled out over the table and hiding them all in one of my kitchen drawers. It's for the best that no one else knows what I'm up to.

"Annabeth, hurry up! It's freezing out here!"

I laugh. "Thals we're in Los Angeles in the summertime. It's literally only like 65 degrees out."

"That makes it all the more maddening!" She shouts. "At least New York has a reason for being cold. What's LA's excuse?"

I shove the last of my papers into the drawer and head over to the front door. When I open it, I'm not surprised to see that Thalia is holding an overnight bag.

"Planning on staying over are we?" I ask with a smirk. Thalia just shrugs and moves around me to step into the room. She drops her bag on the floor and heads straight for the fridge.

"You got anything to eat? I'm starving."

"Just some leftovers," I say. "Nothing too exciting."

Thalia pulls out some tupperware with fettuccine alfredo in it. "Oh Ms. Chase how you undermine the gloriousness of fettuccine!"

She begins dumping the pasta into one of my bowls and sticks it in the microwave before turning back to me.

"Annabeth please do not tell me you've been cooped up in here all day."

I quickly blush, thinking back to the day I spent with Percy. "No I went out."

"Good," Thalia says approvingly, though I don't know if she'd feel the same way if she knew that I'd spent the day with her cousin.

The microwave beeps and Thalia pulls out her fettuccine. She grabs a fork and walks over to the couch.

"Come girlie."

I shake my head, but follow her all the same. We have both just gotten comfy on the couch, sprawling blankets over our legs, when all of a sudden, I hear another knock on the door. Before I can say anything though, Thalia shouts, "Door's open!"

I look over at Thalia, confused, but she just shrugs. In through the door walk Hazel and Piper, Reyna bringing up the rear. They all carry overnight bags and are wearing pajama pants and fuzzy socks. It seems like everyone got the memo but me.

I look over at Thalia again, eyebrows raised. "Explain."

She chuckles. "I just thought that this would be the perfect time for a sleepover. It hasn't been just us girls in a while, and I thought it would be a good idea."

"And right you were," Hazel says, dropping her bags and joining Thalia under the blanket.

Reyna puts her stuff down next to Hazel's and walks over, plopping down next to me. "Yeah this is long overdue."

I just laugh. "You guys are ridiculous."

"Yeah but you love it," Piper says, finally joining us and stealing a piece of Thalia's fettuccine.

"Hey!" Thalia shouts in protest.

"Oh man," Piper moans. "This is so good."

"Ooo let me try," Reyna says from beside me, reaching over to take a piece, but Thalia quickly pulls the bowl away from her. "Absolutely not! Is there no respect for not taking other people's food anymore-" Thalia starts, but breaks off when she notices that while she was distracted, Hazel reached into her bowl and took a piece.

Hazel looks at Piper. "You were right, this is good."

"Oh my gods!" Thalia shouts. "This is my fettuccine. Mine! No one else's."

"Well technically it's mine," I pipe up from the corner, but Thalia hits me with a death glare.

"Well Ms. Chase, if I'd known you were going to take up that attitude with me, I wouldn't have invited you in the first place," Thalia states indignantly.

"We're in _my _room!" I shout with a laugh.

Thalia returns her attention to her pasta bowl. "Let's not get caught up with things so trivial as what belongs to who at this moment."

"But weren't you just-" Reyna interjects with a chuckle, but Thalia quickly changes the subject.

"Who's in the mood for a movie!"

We all roll our eyes, but we're laughing just the same. I pick up the remote, and turn on the TV. We spend a couple of minutes browsing, but then just decide to rewatch the early 2000's _A Cinderella Story_ with Hillary Duff and Chad Michael Murray, though we've all already seen it. It's basically a classic for our generation and definitely one of my all time favorites. Throughout the entire thing, though, I can't seem to focus on the great parts of the story like I usually do because, for whatever reason, this time I find myself getting really mad at the main characters. They're completely oblivious to each other's feelings, and it's infuriating! I don't know why this is bothering me so much all of a sudden when it never really has in the past, but it's just really annoying me today. I mean, why can't they just open their eyes and see that they're right for each other!

Throughout the whole movie, Thalia watches me with a smirking expression. During the locker room scene, she leans over to me.

"Annabeth, why do you look like you want to murder the TV?"

I grit my teeth. "I just don't get how two people can be so blind to each other's feelings. I mean, they're totally into each other, and they'd be so happy together if one of them would just suck it up and take the plunge."

Thalia laughs, earning a smack from Hazel. She leans in closer to whisper something to me.

"Ironic."

"Wait what do you mean ironic-" I start, but Piper punches me in the arm. I shut up.

When the movie is finally over, and they've finally gotten together (thank gods), it's almost midnight. We all brush our teeth and I run into my room to grab some extra blankets from the closet. Like in most hotel rooms, my couch folds out into a bed, and though it's a really tight fit, the five of us somehow manage to squeeze in together. I'm smack in the middle, and I feel like I'm the center of the world's most compact burrito. It's super hot, but I find that I don't mind. I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Annabeth, your hip bone is in my ass," Thalia says.

"Well your ass is eating my hip bone," I retort.

"Okay," Hazel giggles. "That's a little too graphic for me."

"Man I feel like I'm in a sauna," Reyna groans.

"Yeah sorry if I'm sweating on you," Piper tells her.

"Don't sweat it."

"I really hope that pun was unintentional," I say, and everyone laughs.

There's a brief moment of silence, and for a moment, I think that we're all actually going to get some sleep. Then Thalia blurts, "Is anyone going to the fireworks tomorrow?"

I had almost totally forgot that tomorrow was the Fourth of July. Man time was flying.

"Nah, Hazel and I are flying back up to San Francisco for the week," Reyna says.

"Yeah, I want to spend some time with Frank," Hazel adds.

I shoot her a smirk. "Who's Frank?"

Hazel blushes, and Thalia pipes up from beside me. "Frank is Hazel's _boyfriend_." Hazel reaches over me to punch Thalia in the arm. Thalia shrieks and tries to scoot away from Hazel, almost knocking Piper off the bed.

"Watch it Thals!" Piper shouts with a laugh. We're all a giggling mess.

"Wait a minute!" Hazel says, skeptically. "Thalia, you can't even tease us about guys anymore since you've literally been spending every waking moment with Luke!"

It's Thalia's turn to blush.

Piper peaks her head up to look at Thalia. "Yeah, what's the deal with that anyway?" She says with a smirk. "Are you guys officially dating yet?"

Thalia covers her face with her hands, muffling her embarrassed laughter. "All I know is that I like spending time with him, and I'm about 98% sure he likes spending time with me." We all look at Thalia, wanting her to say more. "And he asked me to the fireworks tomorrow," she adds, blushing.

Hazel shrieks, "Ahh, Thalia, I'm so happy for you."

Reyna shakes her head, smiling. "The Fourth of July fireworks display is literally the most romantic resort event of the summer! How could you have held this back from us!"

Thalia is grinning like mad, but she covers her face with the blanket. "Why is everyone so focused on me? Jason and Piper are going together too!"

Now it's Piper's turn to blush. "Okay, but that's old news, you and Luke is far more interesting."

Thalia stays under the blanket, and we all laugh.

The truth is, I couldn't be more happy for Thalia, but for whatever reason, I find that I'm a little skeptical about Luke. It's not that I get bad vibes from him or anything, but when I first met him at the pier the other day, I couldn't get over the feeling that I knew him from somewhere. He just seemed really familiar to me for whatever reason, and it totally set me on edge.

"What about you Annabeth?" Reyna asks from beside Hazel, snapping me back to reality.

"What about me?" I ask hesitantly, a little nervous, because I definitely know where this is going.

"You and Percy, silly," Piper chimes in.

I immediately look over at Thalia. Ever since I found out that Percy was Thalia's cousin, she and I hadn't really said anything on the subject. I figured that it would probably be uncomfortable for her if I were to talk about my feelings for him, them being so close and all. But as I look at Thalia now, she seems just as eager as the rest of the girls to hear what I have to say, and she shoots me a glance like, _Spill! It's okay!_

I bite my lip. "Well obviously I like him," I say.

Hazel shrieks, "I knew it!"

"Annabeth you've literally been here for weeks!" Reyna says, shaking her head. "Why haven't you made a move?"

I glance to my over to my left at Piper and Hazel who know all about the whole "not knowing Thalia and Percy were cousins" debacle from the beginning of the summer. They're both trying not to laugh.  
"We've just had a lot of awkwardness where relationship stuff is concerned," I say. "I just don't know if he feels the same way I do anymore."

"Oh I'm sure he does," Piper says, like this is a dumb fear.

Hazel shoots me a grin. "Annabeth he's crazy about you, anyone with eyes can see it."

I try to hide my growing smile, not wanting to let them know just how much their words mean to me. "You really think so?" I ask.

Thalia burrows deeper into the blankets and laughs. "Annabeth, for someone so smart, you sure can be dumb sometimes."

I lean back on my pillow. Was it true? Did Percy really feel the same way about me that I felt about him? The idea seemed too perfect to be real.

I just laid there, staring up at the ceiling. As everyone else fell asleep one by one, I found that I just couldn't follow suit. I simply couldn't fall asleep. I attributed this partially to the fact that I was burning alive, and partially to the fact that I was still being squished like a human burrito, but really, I knew the truth.

How was I supposed to engage in something as trivial as falling asleep, when at this very moment, Percy Jackson could be thinking about me the same way I was thinking about him.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Percy POV

I've never seen Olympus beach as crowded as it is tonight. All down the beach, bonfires light up the strip with groups of people huddled around each one. There are tents out and picnic blankets, and it's unbelievably warm considering how late it is, so everybody is dressed in shorts and loose tops.

Even if there weren't mini American flags and red, white, and blue plastic cups everywhere, I'd still be able to tell it was the Fourth of July simply because of the smell. Nothing says July fourth like the smell of barbecue. I try not to let the smell make me hungry.

As I begin making my way towards the water, I have to walk through all these groups of people, and I've got to say it kind of makes me feel like a loser to be walking alone. All around me I'm surrounded by happy couples, all with their arms wrapped around each other and smiles on their faces, and it certainly doesn't help that I'm going to be meeting up with Thalia and Jason, both of whom have dates tonight.

Everyone else in our group has already been here for about an hour. Unfortunately, I got caught up at this little thing called my job, so I'm running a wee bit late.

I keep my eyes peeled for my group as I walk along the beach, and when I finally spot them, I immediately feel my heart leap in my chest.

I had no idea that Annabeth was going to be with us.

I mean, I should've been able to infer it on my own because of how close Thalia and Annabeth were getting, but for whatever reason, it just didn't even cross my mind that she would be here tonight.

Annabeth is facing the water, her long ponytail swaying as she talks to Thalia. She wears a giant grey t-shirt that is so big, it almost completely covers her shorts.

I quickly start straightening out my shirt and attempting to brush out my hair with my hands before realizing it's a lost cause. Here goes nothing.

I've barely taken two steps in their direction, however, when Thalia notices me.

"Percy!" She shouts, waving me over. She gets a couple of glares from surrounding groups, but if there's one thing Thalia Grace cares absolutely nothing about, it's what other people think of her. "We saved you some Takis!"

I smile, shaking my head.

On the blanket, Thalia sits on Annabeth's right with Luke on her other side while Piper sits on Annabeth's left, Jason bringing up the outside.

"Hey guys," I say as I walk up. Everyone gives me a wave.

"Here man," Jason says, patting the space by his side.

I move to go sit next to him, when all of a sudden, Thalia shrieks, "No!" And practically dives over Luke to get to the outside of the blanket. We all look at her like she's crazy.

"Thalia what-" I start.

Once she finally gets into a sitting position again, she shrugs, trying to pass off as casual. "There's barely any room left on the blanket on that side," she says pointing to the spot next to Jason. "Just sit there." She motions to her old spot between Luke and Annabeth. Luke rubs the a spot on his arm where Thalia had just kneed him in her attempt to climb over him.

My cheeks go hot at the idea of sitting next to Annabeth, but I know that if I try to get out of it, it will look like I don't want to sit next to her. And trust me, that was definitely not the case. I notice Annabeth shaking her head at Thalia with a disapproving smirk, but I don't have enough time to try and psychoanalyze what it means because I'm too busy blushing.

I sit down. "Hey."

Annabeth shoots me smile. "Hey seaweed brain."

I shake my head with a grin. Then, with a glance over at her smug expression, I can tell that Annabeth is pleased with herself for making me smile, so I lightly elbow her in the ribs to knock her ego down a few notches, which makes her burst into laughter.

I briefly catch Thalia staring at us, a wicked grin on her face, but as soon as she sees that I've noticed, she quickly ducks back behind Luke, suddenly very interested in the fringe on the picnic blanket.

"Ignore Thalia," Annabeth says, her laughter dying down. "She's insufferable."

"Oh trust me, I know. But for the record, ignoring her doesn't usually do the trick. It would take a nuclear bomb to get that girl off her trail once she sets her mind to something."

Annabeth laughs. "True."

Piper leans over to whisper something to her, and while Annabeth's attention is diverted, I take a moment to look at her. Her jawline looks a million times sharper right now in the darkness of the night, and her blond hair is turning silvery under the moon. Annabeth chuckles at whatever it is Piper says to her, and I can't help but smile at the sound of her laugh.

When Annabeth turns back towards me again, I quickly pretend like I haven't just been staring at her.

We sit together in a comfortable silence, joining into bits and pieces of everyone else's conversations every once in a while. We go on like this for a couple of minutes until suddenly, Annabeth surprises me by addressing me directly, her voice growing so quiet she is almost whispering.

"Percy," she starts, hesitantly.

I look at her. The grin that she had worn just moments before has been replaced by a look of deep contemplation.

"What is it?"

Annabeth avoids meeting my eyes, and thinks about what she is going to say for a long moment before she speaks. "Percy, about what you said yesterday..." She swallows. "About you being worried for your dad because of the blockades that are being put on his environmental research…" Annabeth slowly looks up at me. "I think there's something I need to tell you."

I look at her with confusion. What could Annabeth possibly know about that situation?

"What is it?" I ask her, my concern evident in my voice.

Annabeth opens her mouth like she's about to speak, when all of a sudden, Piper shouts out in excitement, "It's starting!"

Sure enough, out in the distance over the water, I see the first spark of the resort's Fourth of July fireworks display shoot up into the air, and a brilliant golden shower of light sprays down over the ocean when it explodes.

I'm really curious to hear what Annabeth has to say, but we've been waiting to see this fireworks display for a long time since it's one of the best ones in the country. Surely whatever she was going to tell me can wait.

I shoot Annabeth a smile. "You can tell me after. Let's just enjoy the fireworks right now."

For a brief moment, Annabeth looks like she wants to protest, but then thinks better of it and smiles slightly, nodding her head. "Okay."

To my right, Luke and Thalia have scooted over a little bit and are now laying back on the sand, watching as the second firework of the night shoots up into the sky. I look to the left and notice that Piper and Jason have done the same, and Piper leans her head on Jason's shoulder as they watch.

Annabeth and I follow suit, and together, we lay back on the sand just as the next firework explodes in the air. The coloration is absolutely beautiful.

As more sparks shoot up into the sky, I suddenly become very aware of how close Annabeth and I are lying next to each other. Our proximity seems to have intensified by a million percent since we lied down.

My heartbeat increases, and each pound of my heart is echoed by the rapid booms of the fireworks exploding over the water.

We lie there for a couple of minutes, but it feels like hours because we're so mesmerized by the sky. All the while, I am having trouble focusing on the display because I feel like there is an electric current between Annabeth and me that grows stronger and stronger with each millisecond that passes by. The force I feel between us is so incredibly intense that it seems like a miracle that the people around us can't feel it as well.

I don't dare risk a look at Annabeth. I'm certain that the weight of my gaze would alert her to my stare, strong enough to shatter whatever invisible membrane exists between us, the only thing keeping the forceful electric current between us at bay.

After a couple of minutes pass by, the pace of the fireworks up above picks up, and I know that we are approaching the grand finale. Lights explode overhead, creating blasts so loud, it amazes me that they don't shake the world. Shapes appear in the lights, so quickly it looks like someone is flipping through the pages of a picture book, the images morphing and changing with every bang.

And then the pages begin to slow, and I know the display has reached its end. A last few sparks explode in the sky until at last, the book shuts closed.

After a minute, Annabeth glances over at me, smiling. "That was great."

I return her glance, staring deep into her stormy eyes. "Beautiful."

Obviously, I'm talking about the fireworks.

Over Annabeth's shoulder, I see Jason starting to get up. "That was awesome," he says. "Do you guys wanna go get something to eat now?"

That sounds pretty good to me, but just then, Thalia shoots Jason a look like, _Absolutely not! _

"Thalia what-?" He starts, but she cuts him off.

"Luke and I are going to go get dinner together," she says. "You and Piper should go do the same." She says it slowly, like she's trying to make him understand something, but he looks just as confused as I am. Thalia and Jason are sitting up now, but the rest of us are still lying down, watching the whole scene unfold with amusement.

Thalia shoots Jason an overexaggerated wink, and then tilts her head in my direction. I literally have no idea what is going on in her head. But then again, who does.

"Thalia I swear you are being so weird tonight! Why shouldn't we all go out together?" Jason says, but just then, Thalia gives Piper a look like, _Get your man in check! _

Piper laughs, and then pulls at Jason's arm, starting to stand up. "Come on Jase," she says softly. Jason looks at her, and it's like whatever he had been about to say suddenly slips out of his mind. There's always been something about Piper's charm that makes you want to do exactly what she says.

"Ye- Yeah," Jason says, dazedly, standing up and taking his girlfriend's hand to help her up. "Maybe we _should _go."

Thalia looks really satisfied. Luke just shakes his head at her like he knows exactly what she's up to. He and Thalia stand up, brushing off whatever sand magically made its way onto them over the course of the night. "Come on," Luke says wrapping his arm around Thalia's waist.

As they begin walking back to the resort, Thalia glances back over her shoulder and shoots Annabeth a devious smirk.

Annabeth glares at Thalia, and she's blushing like crazy for whatever reason. Honestly, what the hell was going on?

Looking around, I'm surprised to see that almost the entire beach has cleared out, except for us, and the thought of being alone with Annabeth makes me feel like my stomach is going to jump out of my chest. Once Thalia and Luke get out of earshot, Annabeth turns her head on the blanket, looking over at me. "Your cousin is a piece of work."

"You should've seen her during puberty." Annabeth bursts out laughing.

She turns over on her side so that her body is completely facing me, and I do the same, watching her expression change with her smile. When Annabeth smiles, her face scrunches up and she looks so genuinely happy that you can't help but be happy too. I trace Annabeth's features with my eyes as she settles into position. I follow the lids of her eyes down the arch of her nose, the curve of her cheeks and the edges of her lips. When I get back up to her eyes, I notice that Annabeth is looking at me too, and we just stay there like that, staring into each other's eyes.

At a summer camp I went to once, we had to do this activity regarding eye contact, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. The instructor paired us off randomly and told us that we each had to sit there and hold eye contact with our partner for five minutes, but if you laughed or looked away or tried to break the silence, you had to start over. In the end no one succeeded. It doesn't seem like something that would be that difficult in theory, but once you sit down and you actually have to do it, you find that you're so uncomfortable that you automatically want to look away or laugh or crack a joke to break the tension. I didn't succeed that day, but man I wish that instructor could see me now.

With Annabeth, the tension isn't uncomfortable. I mean, there's still a tension there for sure, but it's something quite the opposite of uncomfortable. It's a comfortability that I've never felt with anyone else before in my life, a comfortability I didn't even know I could feel. I stare deep into her eyes, and I have no desire to look away. I am completely lost in her.

In that moment, lying under the stars, I feel something incredible shift between Annabeth and me. I can feel the shift, just as surely as I can feel the ground beneath us. An understanding passes between us. A barrier comes down.

Annabeth reaches up to touch my cheek, running her fingertips from the corner of my eye to the edge of my jaw, and back up to my bottom lip.

I close my eyes, leaning into her touch, trying to block out everything but the feel of her skin on mine, however slight her touch may be. Because now, that electrical current that I've always felt has always tied us together finally has a physical focal point. Her touch burns my skin like a brand, so hot that it seems impossible that the trail of her fingers won't leave a visible mark.

Annabeth finally rests her hand on the blanket directly under my chin. I open my eyes, and slowly, I move my arm out from under me where it has been resting at my side. Carefully, I bring my hand up to Annabeth's shoulder, and I trace the muscles in her arm all the way down to her forearm, then her wrist, and all to the very tips of her fingers, just below my chin.

I move my eyes up to meet Annabeth's again as I slowly lace my fingers through hers. I bring our interlocked hands up to my face, and touch the outside of her wrist to my cheek.

My breathing is heavy against Annabeth's hand, and her skin feels cold against the warmth of my breath. I am suddenly overcome with a burning desire to take away her cold, a yearning to bring warmth to every aspect of her life. I close my eyes briefly, pulling her hand closer to my cheek.

I grasp onto her hand like she is my lifeline, my one tie to the mortal world. And looking at Annabeth, there is suddenly no mistaking that she feels the same way. Seconds pass by, or maybe it's minutes. Time has no place in this moment. The connection I feel to Annabeth right now is so powerful, so strong, that it exists as its own entity, immune to the aspects of life as trivial as time. This connection is all consuming, and I've never felt anything like it before in my life.

"What was it you wanted to tell me earlier?" I ask, meeting Annabeth's eyes.

She has a sharp intake of breath, and closes her eyes like she's in pain. "Later." Annabeth says, and a tear slides slowly from the corner of her eye, towards the ground. I understand that tear. It's not a tear of sadness, but rather, a byproduct of this intense emotional transformation that is slowly taking us over, consuming us from the inside out. I bring her face close to mine, and very gently, I brush her tear away with the side of my cheek before it can fall to the ground. Even the pull of gravity can't compete with the strength of the connection I feel to her in this moment.

Slowly, Annabeth moves in closer to me, and I feel the warmth of her breath against my chest. Our hands remain clasped between us, and it's suddenly hard for me to conceptualize how I've been able to go my whole life without Annabeth Chase's hand in mine.

With my free arm, I draw the blanket up around us, enclosing us and capturing our collective warmth. Annabeth nuzzles in closer to me, and I bring my lips to the top of her hair, burying myself in the scent of her.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Annabeth POV

"Oh not again!" Yells a distant voice, pulling me out of my slumber. I open my eyes, and immediately regret it as I'm momentarily blinded by a strong burst of sunlight. For a minute, I'm seriously confused. Where on earth was I? I sit up a little bit, blinking out the sunlight, and take a look around. The first thing I see is the bright blue sky above me, and then the ocean straight ahead. Then I look over and notice Percy sleeping soundly beside me, and suddenly, it all comes flooding back. I feel my cheeks go hot.

"This is Resort Security," says the same voice that had woken me up. "Another set of pesky teens have fallen asleep on Olympus beach again."

The voice comes from behind me, and grows louder as the man it belongs to walks closer to us. I immediately know we're in trouble. I lean down to shake Percy awake.

"Percy!" I say, gently pushing his shoulder. A part of me feels seriously guilty waking him up. I mean, he looks ridiculously peaceful. His hair is all messy, and he looks so comfortable with the blanket pulled up to his chin. I also feel a pang of regret because, I mean, how many opportunities am I gonna get to watch Percy sleep? Okay, that sounded stalkerish, but I needed to set all my reserves aside. We had to get up. Now.

I shake him harder. "Percy! Wake up!"

I feel him stir beneath me. "Whah-" Percy says, opening his eyes and leaning up. He looks incredibly confused for a moment, but after taking a moment to process his surroundings, he blushes like crazy. "Oh my gods. Please don't tell me we fell asleep."

"I would love to," I say. "But I can't because we did. And anywho, we have bigger problems at the moment." I motion behind me. Percy looks over his shoulder.

The guard is only a few feet away now, and he has his walkie talkie up to his ear. "Yes, right away," he reports.

"Shit," Percy groans, and we both quickly sit up, rapidly trying to fold up the blanket so we can make a run for it, but it's no use. The guard has already reached us.

The guard wears a neon orange security jacket and is incredibly short, with a stubbly beard and a firm expression, like someone who takes his job way to seriously. The sight of him would honestly be comical if we weren't about to be in a shitton of trouble.

"I'm Resort Security Officer Gleeson Hedge," the man says, and flashes his badge at us. It's obvious he's been waiting for an opportunity to do that. "And with the authority bestowed upon me by Olympus Corporations, I am going to have to ask you what on earth you're doing here."

Percy and I nervously glance at each other.

"Early morning trip to the beach?" Percy tries.

The officer just shakes his head. "Beach doesn't open till 6:00 cupcake. You'll both be coming with me."

I groan. The last thing I need right now is to get in trouble again, but alas, it's not like I have much of a choice. Percy and I stand, finishing folding the blanket as we do. Once we're done, Percy takes it, and we look at the officer, who seems pleased that we're cooperating so well. He points a finger at us. "No funny business."

"Yes, because we were really planning on putting up a fight," I mumble under my breath, and Percy shoots me a smirk.

The guard begins making his way up the beach, and Percy and I follow close behind, wading our way through the sand. We head up the stairs to the resort and follow him into the corporate hallway. With a start, I realize that we're heading into the same office that Percy and I were taken into a couple of weeks ago when we got tested for drugs after making a scene in the lobby. I have to put my hand over my mouth to stifle my laugh. I quickly turn my head, and one look at the smirk on Percy's face, and I can tell he's noticed it's the same room too.

We stop in front of a long, official looking desk, and the officer turns to face us. Noticing the expressions on our faces, he gets mad. "What's so funny?"

"Absolutely nothing," I say, shaking my head with fake seriousness, but I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

He narrows his eyes at me, skeptically. "I'm going to go get my boss. I'll be right back. If either of you try anything, I'm not afraid to get my baseball bat!"

Percy puts his hand over his chest and nods seriously. "No funny business," he agrees.

The officer looks like he senses the sarcasm in Percy's words, but doesn't know what to do about it, so he just exists the room with one final glare, leaving Percy and me alone in the office. As soon as the door shuts, we both burst out laughing.

"What are the chances!" Percy laughs.

I fall back into one of the chairs. "We're notorious."

Percy joins me and sits down in the other chair. I quickly notice how beautiful he looks right now, with his jetblack hair all rumpled and his sweatshirt bringing out the color of his eyes. Suddenly, the events of last night come flooding back to me, making me blush. I can tell Percy is thinking about the same thing, because his expression has become flushed.

I want to lean over and kiss him. I want to feel his lips on mine and feel his arms around me. I've never felt this strongly about someone romantically before, and whatever emotional barriers came down between us last night seem to have turned my self restraint to mush. I want to tell Percy how I feel and talk about everything that has happened, but before I can even open my mouth to say something, the door to the office flies open.

A man in a neatly pressed suit walks into the room, and as soon as he sees us, he moans. "Oh not you two again!"

The edge of Percy's mouth twitches like he's trying not to smile.

Exasperated, the man walks to the back of the room and sits down at the desk. He looks ridiculously tired, which makes sense considering it's about 5:30 in the morning.

The man suddenly straightens up and looks at me with a determined expression, like he's gonna make an effort to look at the glass half full. "Well, on the upside, _Annabeth_, I won't have to kill myself prying the personal information out of you this time since we already have it all on file."

I moan, placing my face in my hands. My mom was going to kill me.

It only takes Percy's dad about fifteen minutes to show up after they call him. When Mr. Jackson shows up and the man explains the situation, Percy looks like he wants to die of embarrassment at the whole ordeal. Overall, though, Mr. Jackson takes the whole thing really well, and out of nowhere, I feel a sudden pang of envy that Percy has such great parents. Then I hate myself for feeling jealous about a thing like that.

When Percy gets dismissed, he and his dad walk to the door, but before they leave, Percy places a reassuring hand on my shoulder and leans down to whisper in my ear.

"Text me later, alright? I want to know that you're alive."

I smile and give him a nod. Percy looks sad as he leaves, like he hates leaving me here, but we both know that he can't stay, and I can't leave until I've been dismissed by a guardian.

It's an hour and a half before there's a knock at the door. The man in the room with me has fallen asleep at the desk, and he startles awake at the sound of the knocking. He quickly combs through his hair with his hands and goes to answer the door.

I'm expecting to see my mom when the door opens, but of course, the fates hate me, and the situation has to be worse than I thought.

When my dad steps through the door, I slump deeper into my seat. Even though my mom could be neglectful and job-obsessive, I still felt a million times closer to her than my dad.

I don't say anything as the man takes the time to explain the situation again. I just sit there, slightly embarrassed, but mostly annoyed. It was just a little mistake, and It's not like I actually did anything wrong. The resort is way too over dramatic about little flukes.

When I have finally been released, my dad and I stand up and walk out of the office, heading down the hall into the lobby. It's still early in the morning, but after how long I was in that office, people are now awake and starting to go about their days. The lobby has a couple of people sprinkled here and there, all wearing summery clothes, ready to go about enjoying their days.

When we finally reach the front doors, my dad turns towards me. "Annabeth…"

I look at him. It's been a while since I really looked at my dad. His greying hair falls into his face slightly, and he seems older, more tired, like life is really starting to drain him.

"I'm sorry," I say with a shrug. "We accidentally fell asleep. I promise it won't happen again."

My dad nods his head. "I know."

An awkward moment of silence passes between us, and we both stand there, not really knowing what to say.

My dad rubs the back of his neck. "We're having a family breakfast down at Ambrosia in a little bit. You should come join us."

I feel a little tug in my chest. What I really want is to go find Percy. I feel like there has been a cord connecting the two of us since last night, and the longer we're apart, the more taunt it becomes. I feel the cord pulling at me, urging me to run to him. But in life, sometimes you just have to swallow the pill. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that you can't always have what you want. Plus, this breakfast will probably be good for my dad and me, even if Helen will be there.

"Sure," I say. "Just let me get changed, and I'll meet you there in a little bit."

My dad smiles. "Great."

We head off in our different directions, him towards the restaurant to grab a table, and me out the front doors to make my way back to my room.

It's about a fifteen minute walk back, and I'm kind of mad that I don't have my skateboard, but Thalia had driven me last night and I had assumed that she was going to drive me back, so there had been no need to take it. I grow hot all over again as I remember _why _I didn't end up needing a drive back.

Whatever had passed between Percy and me last night had been so powerful, it almost scared me to think about it. I've never felt this strongly about someone in this way.

But then, a distressing thought comes to mind. What would it feel like if things ever went sour? I close my eyes briefly and shake my head at the thought. No. I can't go through life restraining myself from truly living because I'm scared of what could possibly happen. I can't live like that. Not anymore. I _will _tell Percy how I feel.

When I get back to my room, I notice that the pullout couch is still pulled out from the sleepover the girls and I had the night before last, and I laugh. I was planning on cleaning up last night, but well, you know…

After I've showered and changed into a nice sundress, I head back to the Colosseum. The whole ordeal only takes me about thirty minutes, so I probably haven't missed too much of the breakfast.

Despite the fact that my family is literally staying in the same hotel as me, I've only seen them a couple of times ever since they arrived. It's the same kind of neglect I usually face from Helen back home, but I've got to say, I was kind of hoping it would be different here since my dad is actually here right now and not on some business trip like he usually is. I thought that he would be making more of an effort to hang out with me, but I guess he's probably just busy. I think that's why I'm kind of starting to look forward to this breakfast. Even though I pretty much despise spending time with my stepfamily, this is an opportunity for me to get to know my dad better, something I rarely get the chance to do back home.

I ride the elevator up to the right floor, and when I arrive at Ambrosia, I'm again surprised by just how fancy it is. I haven't been here since my first night at the resort, and being back here reminds me of running into Percy and getting to know him for the first time. It's hard to believe how close we've become since then, and just thinking of it makes that ache to see him, to be with him, all the stronger. I push my feelings aside. First thing's first.

I'm a couple of steps into the restaurant when I see my dad, Helen, Bobby, and Matthew sitting at a table in the back. I almost miss them though, because their table is hidden behind one of those beautiful chinese room dividers. I make my way over to them, scaling the wall because it's easier than trying to make my way through the tables. I am about to step out and join them, when all of a sudden, I hear something that makes me stop in my tracks. I remain hidden behind the divider, blocked from sight as I pause to listen.

"I mean really Frederick," Helen says, her high voice sending waves of anger down my spine. "She's not a good influence on Bobby and Matthew." Helen lowers her voice now, but I can still hear her since she sits close to the divider. "If Annabeth keeps slutting around with boys, and on public beaches none the less, I think it shows a serious lapse in her judgement. She shouldn't be near Bobby and Matthew."

I feel like someone has punched me in the gut. For years, I've faced constant rudeness and neglect from Helen, but to say something like that about me? And to my own father?

I stand there behind the divider, waiting for my dad to say something back to her, waiting for him to defend me. I wait for him to tell her that I didn't do anything wrong, to yell at her, to ask her how on earth she could possibly say something like that about his daughter. But he doesn't. He doesn't say anything. He just lets her keep going on about what a bad influence I am.

I clench my fists. I can't listen to this anymore. I quickly make my way back to the elevator, willing myself not to scream out in frustration. Did he always let her talk about me like that? Does he really care so much more about keeping the peace in his new, perfect, little family that he can't even defend his own daughter?

I quickly open my phone and text my dad that I won't be able to make it to breakfast, not bothering with an explanation. I have to shove my phone into my purse to keep myself from throwing it across the elevator.

When I reach the lobby, I immediately spot Thalia working in the library through the clear glass walls. Thank gods. I head over there.

"Hey Annabeth!" Thalia says excitedly as I step through the door, but as soon as she sees my expression, she says, "Uh oh," and then screams to no one in particular, "I'm going on my break!"

She hops out from behind the desk and puts her hand on my back as she guides me to the teen center. We push our way through whatever losers are playing arcade games this early in the morning until we've finally found a secluded booth all the way in the back. As soon as we sit down, Thalia places her arm around my shoulder.

"Lay it on me," she says.

As I tell Thalia all about Helen and my dad, I notice that I've picked up a fork off the table, and that I've slowly been bending it out of shape. When I finally finish my story, Thalia gently takes the fork out of my hand and places it back on the table before leaning back into the booth. "That sucks Annabeth, I'm sorry."

I lean my head on her shoulder. "It just makes me so mad, you know! How could he let her talk about his own daughter like that."

Thalia shakes her head. "I really don't know. Fathers are stupid."

"And stepmothers," I add.

Thalia laughs. "Yeah, them too."

I guess she'd know all about that. I think that's one of the reasons we relate to each other so well.

Thalia and I sit there like that, tucked away in the booth, her arm around me and my head on her shoulder, for a couple of minutes before I decide to break the silence.

"Percy and I fell asleep at the beach last night," I blurt out.

"You what!" Thalia shrieks and shoots up straight, throwing me off her shoulder.

"Ow!" I groan.

Thalia ignores my pain. "No you didn't!" She says, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, we did," I laugh, before smirking. "I guess your plan worked."

Thalia throws her fist in the air. "Yes! I'm practically Cupid!" Then her face scrunches up. "Man I sound like Piper's mom." The thought seems to bother her for a moment, but then she shrugs and turns toward me. "Fuck it. Tell me everything."

I laugh. "Well, we didn't kiss or anything, but I think the moment was almost more important because we didn't."

I suddenly grow embarrassed about what I'm saying, thinking that Thalia will make fun of me, but she doesn't. She just seems genuinely happy for me, so I decide to go on.

"Something happened between us," I say. "Like whatever awkwardness or uncertainty that existed before just disappeared." I look at Thalia. "I've never felt anything like it."

Thalia looks like she could burst from giddiness. "Annabeth you don't know how happy this makes me." She puts her hand on my knee. "Percy's never felt this way about anyone his whole life, and I couldn't be happier that he feels it for someone like you."

I blush and jokingly smack her arm, unable to contain my grin. "Shut up."

"So what happened after?" Thalia says, eagerness plain in her voice.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Thalia rolls her eyes. "Did you guys tell each other how you feel? Are you in a relationship?"

"Oh," I say slowly. "We didn't really have time to discuss it."

Thalia looks confused, but also like she's about to decapitate me, so I go on, wanting to keep my head attached to my body. "Security found us on the beach, and we got in trouble for falling asleep, so our parents had to come get us, and yeah. That was that."

Thalia bursts out laughing. "Man, they must love you down in corporate by now," she says.

I roll my eyes. "Tell me about it."

Thalia looks content for a minute, but then, a sudden expression of anger takes over her face, and she punches me in the forearm. "Wait what are you doing _here_ right now? Don't you want to go be with him?"

"More than anything," I say. I try to keep the emotions out of my voice, but I can't help it. What I feel for Percy is allconsuming.

"Well then what are you doing! Go talk to him!"

Just then a voice booms over the hotel speakers: "Thalia Grace, please report to the library."

I look at Thalia. "I thought you said you were going on break?"

She looks up to the sky, thoughtful. "You know, it's very possible that I don't actually get breaks," she says. I grin and roll my eyes. That's Thalia for you.

The voice booms over the speaker again: "Thalia, if you don't come back in two minutes, the resort will have no choice but to fire you."

Thalia's eyes go wide. She turns to me. "Gotta go. Text Percy!" Then she runs off, leaving me there shaking my head.

I laugh and pull out my phone.

Part of me is worried that it will look needy if I text Percy right now, but then another part of me reminds myself of the promise I made to myself just earlier today. I can't let fear hold me back from living my life.

I open Percy's contact to send him a text.

HEY, YOU CAN STOP WORRYING, I'M ALIVE.

I'm absolutely relieved when he responds within the next minute.

GLAD TO HEAR IT! IT WOULD BE A SHAME IF YOU WEREN'T.

I feel my cheeks go hot, and I quickly start typing again.

WE SHOULD PROBABLY TALK (MAN YOU PROBABLY THINK I'M CLINGY)

The little bubble shows up that shows that he's typing.

ABSOLUTELY NOT - I'VE BEEN DYING TO SEE YOU ALL DAY

A grin the size of Texas takes over my face. Then he sends another text.

I'M GONNA BE WORKING UNTIL REALLY LATE TONIGHT, BUT IF YOU WANNA COME MEET ME AFTER I'M DONE, I GET OFF AT 11:00 :)

I'm not the kind of girl who squeals over a guy, but in that moment, I think I accidentally do. I quickly respond.

OK!

* * *

**A/N: Hey everyone! I usually don't include author's notes because I've always felt like they kind of take away from the story, but I just wanted to thank you guys for being the best readers in the entire world. When I get notified that someone has reviewed or followed this story, it absolutely makes my day. EoOR has finally reached 60 reviews, and I love you guys so much for sticking with me and for caring about this story. I never imagined that I'd ****actually**** have people who want to read my work, and your support and encouragement mean the world to me! **

**On a side note, for my birthday, my amazing Sally Jackson of a mother took me to NY to see the Lightning Thief Musical, and I thought it was incredible. It was probably one of the best days of my life, so if you're thinking about going and seeing it, I highly ****recommend**** it! **

**Once again, t****hanks so much for reading! Don't hesitate to share your opinion, and remember to R&R! You guys mean everything to me :)**

**-Kylie 3**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Annabeth POV

I've never been to the Colosseum this late before. I mean don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm some kind of prude or anything, I've just never had a reason to be roaming around the resort at this hour.

It's almost 11:00 at night, and though I'm sure a lot of people are awake right now, most of them have either retired to their rooms or have made their way to the higher floors of the resort; the ones that are only for people twenty-one and up, if you know what I mean. That's where all of the resort's bars and casinos are, and every once in a while, I pass a middle-aged woman in a cocktail dress stumbling down the sidewalk, and I immediately know where she's been.

There's something unbelievably classy about the resort at this hour, despite the fact that some people act like it's Vegas. It's as if the darkness somehow removes the family element of the resort that's so present in the day time, leaving only the pretentious upper class adults to waltz around in their expensive clothes at night.

I'm glad to say that I don't feel _terribly_ out of place, because I'm still wearing the elegant silvery sundress from earlier today. I'd put it on to go out to breakfast with my dad before everything went down with Helen, and I decided to keep it on for the day. I still haven't gotten over the whole ordeal with my dad and Helen, and I find myself clenching my fists at the mere thought of what I had overheard this morning. I quickly try to suppress my anger.

The only difference in my attire now from this morning is that I wear a simple grey one piece under the dress. It's almost a staple of resort life to wear a bathing suit under your clothes at all times. I've found that I spend pretty much half of everyday surrounded by the water, either down my the beach or at the pool. That's something I love about being here at the resort. Its surreal, almost like you're on vacation 24/7. Which I guess you kind of are, now that I mention about it.

When I enter the lobby it's unusually quiet, and my sandals click loudly against the marble floor as I head towards the archway that leads to the downstairs stairwell. The whole place is dimly lit, and I feel as though I'm not supposed to be here, which of course it ridiculous, but still, there's something eerie about the place at night, an elegant, adult ambiance I guess, that makes me feel like I should turn around and head back out of the Colosseum.

But of course, that isn't an option.

And I don't want it to be an option.

I'm about fifteen minutes early meeting Percy, and I know that I should probably just wait in the lobby until the time that we agreed to meet, but for whatever reason, my feet continue to move me forward. The invisible cord that I have felt has tied Percy and me together all day pulls taut at the thought of him and I almost involuntarily quicken my pace down the steps, rounding the corner to the pool entrance level.

Percy had told me to meet him after work, and I've been a little confused as to exactly what that entails. Am I even in the right place?

The only light in the large hall is the moonlight that shines in through the open arched windows, casting a white, shadowy feel over the floors. The hall is completely empty of people, and I figure that Percy is probably down by the pool, so I walk over to try the entrance doors that lead out to the pool, giving them a sharp tug. With a start, I realize that they're completely locked. I read the sign on the door and see that it says that the pool closes at 10:30. I turn back to the hall. If Percy had wanted me to meet him down by the pool, it didn't seem like there was any chance of that happening.

I'm about to pull out my phone and text him asking where he wanted to meet, when just then, I hear a scuttling sound behind me and I whip my head around to see a door to my right swing open.

Percy stops in his tracks when he sees me.

The door he had come from is labeled _Staff Locker Room_, and is tucked away under the marble staircase, so I'm not surprised that I hadn't noticed it before.

But I certainly notice it now.

I gulp at the sight of Percy. The moonlight reflects off of his jet black hair, giving it a silvery glow. He's wearing his work uniform; red lifeguard's swim trunks and a white polo, and he has a towel wrapped around his neck.

"Annabeth," he says, obviously surprised to see me.

"Hey," I blurt.

Nice one.

I can't seem to move my feet, but luckily, Percy doesn't seem to have that problem, and takes a couple steps towards me so that we're only a few feet apart.

Neither of us seem to know what to say, but I find that it's not because of awkwardness. It's more like there's too much to say, and neither of us know where to start.

Percy nervously tugs at the towel around his neck. "You're early," he says, raising his eyebrows in question.

I feel my cheeks go hot. "Yeah, sorry," I start. "I just-"

I don't know where I'm going with this. Obviously I'm not about to tell Percy that I didn't have enough self restraint to hold myself back for a couple minutes longer. He doesn't seem to take notice of my sudden embarrassment though.

"I was just gonna meet you upstairs," he says with a laugh. "I'm not quite done here yet." Percy motions to the fact that he's still wearing his uniform.

I feel a sudden flush rise up the back of my neck. _Of course he isn't ready you idiot!_ I chide myself. _There's a reason he told you to meet him at eleven. _

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I say. "I didn't even think-"

Percy laughs. "Don't worry about it." His eyes flash with amusement. "I'll tell you what," he says. "I still have to finish packing up some stuff by the pool, but why don't you come with me? It'll make it a lot more enjoyable if I have you there."

I feel a grin threatening to take over my face. "Sounds good."

Percy smiles at my response, and we head down towards the pool entrance doors, Percy pulling out a set of keys as he walks. He unlocks the doors with ease, and the two of us step out into the night.

It's a lot warmer outside than it had been inside the hall, and I'm suddenly very glad that I had decided against changing into jeans and a jacket before coming tonight. I'm sure I'd be sweating up a storm any minute now if I had.

I hang back as Percy takes a minute to lock the doors back up again. Once he's finished, he motions over to the lifeguard stand with his head and I follow close behind him as we walk.

I've never seen the Colosseum pool empty before, and the sight is absolutely beautiful. The pool seems a million times more vast without the dozens of people in it, and the pool lights make the water glisten in the dark.

Percy hangs back for a second to match my pace as we walk around the length of the pool.

"You're mom didn't give you too much trouble, did she?" Percy asks, turning his head towards me.

It takes me a second to figure out that he's referring to this morning.

I feel my cheeks go hot. That seems to be happening a lot tonight.

"My dad picked me up, actually," I tell Percy. "Took him an hour and a half to get there," I say, rolling my eyes. "But he got there eventually."

Percy frowns. "That sucks."

"Yeah, but at least with my dad, he doesn't know me as well, so I think he didn't feel like he had the authority to get mad at me or anything," I say with a grin.

Percy laughs.

We have finally reached the lifeguard stand, and Percy leans over to start packing up his things.

"Sorry, Annabeth, this should only take a minute," he says, and starts picking up a clipboard and jacket that lay under the chair, piling them into a sports bag that rests at the base of the stand.

"No worries." I slide off my flip flops, stepping over to the edge of the pool to sit down.

The water is unbelievably warm, and a little shiver runs down my spine as soon as I slip my feet in.

I tilt my head back to look at Percy as he packs up his stuff and can't help the laugh that escapes me. "You're such a seaweed brain," I say shaking my head.

"What?" Percy asks defensively, with a smirk.

"Would it really kill you to be a little more organized," I say, motioning to the stuff he has laying all over the place.

Percy pouts. "This is organized for me."

I raise my eyebrows at him and laugh. "Alright."

Percy grins and shoves a last couple of items into his bag before zipping it up. "Man, someone's judgy."

"Eh, it's better than being unorganized."

Percy scrunches up his face and lightly punches me in the shoulder as he leans down to take a seat next to me.

"You're just jealous that _I_ know how to loosen up," he says, defiantly.

"Oh yes," I retort, my voice oozing with sarcasm. "_That's _what it is."

Percy jokingly sneers and pulls me into a quick headlock, making me giggle as I swat his arm away.

"You're so annoying," I say, laughing.

Percy slows, his playhousing coming to a stop as he slowly brings his eyes to mine.

"And you're beautiful," he says.

And just like that, the mood completely shifts. Percy's hand still rests at my neck, and he slowly brings his hand up, tucking my hair behind my ear and letting his hand linger at the base of my neck. I feel as though my heart will beat out of my chest, and very gently, I bring my hand up to his, and hesitantly intertwine our fingers, where they rest linked together on my shoulder.

Percy hesitates and bites his lip. I can tell he doesn't want to ruin the moment, but it's obvious that he wants to say something.

"What is it that you were trying to tell me last night?" He asks, hesitantly.

I mentally facepalm myself. I had completely forgotten about that.

The day that Percy told me about how his dad was having difficulty obtaining permits for local environmental research, a theory popped into my mind, and has been eating away at me ever since. I've been meaning to tell Percy about it for a while, and I really tried to tell him last night, but with everything being so complicated lately, I just haven't gotten the chance.

I let go of Percy's hand, and bring my own hand down to my side, looking out over the water. I think about what I want to say for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"A little while after I arrived at the resort, I was working in my mom's office, just filing paperwork and stuff for internship credit," I say, tilting my head towards Percy. "Because she's the resort's architect, it was mostly just legal files and blueprints, nothing too interesting."

I lift my legs out of the water and pull my knees up to my chest. "That is, until I came across a file that was labeled confidential. Normally, I would've totally ignored it. But the thing that caught my attention was the fact that the file seemed completely ordinary, just a bunch of the resort's environmental statistics, measuring the soil composition and the pH level of the water and stuff, so I couldn't figure out why on earth it was labeled confidential." I pause, taking a deep breath. "I probably shouldn't have, but I decided to take pictures of the file, and made duplicates of the papers as soon as I got back to my room."

I glance over at Percy to see that he is listening intently, a look of serious interest on his face.

"And were you able to find anything?" Percy asks, curiosity plain in his voice. "Were the results not up to code or something?"

I take a deep breath. "Well that's the thing," I say. "For days I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. I did the research, and all of the results listed in the files _were_ up to code. It seemed like there was no problem, and I simply couldn't figure out why on earth someone would label a completely non-problematic file confidential."

Percy's look of confusion mirrors the same confusion I remember having felt back then.

"I was just about ready to give up looking through the files," I continue. "I was convinced that they had simply been mislabeled confidential. Then, on my last readthrough though, I suddenly noticed a tiny symbol in the corner of one of the pages, something I had missed before. It was like an upside down Greek omega symbol. It looked out of place, and the fact that it was on the documents struck me as strange, so I decided to look it up."

Percy's eyebrows draw together with concern. "And what did you find?" He asks.

"The symbol is the logo for a company that creates fake legal study results." I tell him. "The file was labeled confidential to keep people from seeing that symbol and finding out that it was a forgery."

Percy's eyes grow wide. "So someone is lying about the environmental study results." He concludes. "But why?"

"To hide something." I say. "My guess is because the _real_ results aren't up to code."

"And that's why someone is trying to block my dad's research," Percy puts together. "Because he might find out the truth if he gets a permit to work in the area."

"Exactly." I say.

Percy's eyebrows are furrowed, and he looks deep in thought. "That's crazy," he says, shaking his head in dismay.

"I know." I place my head in my hands. "Percy, I'm so sorry," I mumble hurriedly. "No matter what, the fact that I found those files in my mom's office means that she's probably linked to this whole scandal, whatever it is." I rub my temple. "My mom is probably a part of what is bringing your dad so much trouble. They're against each other in a war that no one even knows exists."

Silence.

I'm almost afraid to look up at Percy, scared of what expression I might find there.

Then suddenly, I feel him touch my shoulder. I look up at Percy's face, and what I find there isn't anger, or hatred. It's something else entirely. His expression has shifted into one of even deeper, more urgent concern.

"Annabeth, why on earth are you telling me this?" He says, his voice dripping with worry. "This is really serious stuff. If anyone found out, you could be in some serious trouble." Then he shakes his head. "Forget _trouble_, you could be in serious _danger._"

I meet his eyes, confusion taking over me. "You're not upset with me?"

"Of course I'm upset!" He says. "You're putting yourself at risk!"

My heart breaks at the fact that he cares more about me than himself in this moment, and I feel my chest clench tight with the strength of what I feel for him right now.

"I know," I say, shaking my head. "But you were obviously really distraught over the whole thing, and it was clear that you were in pain." I look away. "And that was more important to me." A moment passes, and my heart pounds hard in my chest. "Because I care about you."

I feel hollow inside, exposed. I've laid all the cards on the table, and now it's Percy's move. I don't dare risk a glance at him. I'm too scarred.

And though I've always been excellent at strategy, at predicting other people's moves, I never could've predicted what Percy does next.

One moment, we're both sitting there, inches between us, but lightyears apart.

And the next moment, his lips are on mine.

And I feel like my soul has left my body.

The kiss is unlike anything I've ever felt before. It's as though I've lost all awareness of my surroundings.

Our connection is suddenly the only thing that exists.

It's not fireworks. Fireworks are fleeting.

It's the stars. Hot and burning and brilliant and eternal.

It's a supernova. A gravitational collapse.

Percy brings his hand up to my face, and I gasp at his touch. His caress had surprised me, as though I had completely forgotten we had bodies as well as lips.

I link my fingers through his, holding his hand close to my cheek.

We are no longer skirting around our emotions, delicately dancing around our feelings. The glass has shattered, and we have only skimmed the surface of what lies underneath.

I feel a whole new wave of hunger take over me, and I lean deeper into our kiss, adding fuel to a fire that already rages across every part of me. I bring my arms around Percy's neck, and find myself leaning forward to straddle his hips. It's as if my body has taken over any regulatory part of my mind.

Percy wraps his arms around my back, and I feel the muscles in his arms flex as he pulls me close to his chest, moving his lips from the corner of my mouth down to the edge of my jaw.

I gasp into the crease of his neck and clasp the back of his shirt tight between my fingers.

Percy continues to kiss my neck, and I feel as though I am melting into him, every inch of my body turning to liquid.

He brings his lips up to mine one last time, and for one perfect moment, it's like the world has finally aligned into singularity.

When we finally pull apart, we are both breathing hard. I rest my forehead against Percy's temple, my arms still wrapped tight around his neck. I can feel his breath, hot on my chest. It sends chills down my spine.

It takes a moment for my temperature to cool down, for my breathing to slow. But when my pulse finally returns to a semi-normal speed, a grin makes its way to my lips.

"Wow." Percy breaths into the crease of my neck.

Somehow, I have enough strength to laugh.

Percy brings his forehead to mine, and we stare into each other's eyes for what feels like an eternity.

"That was incredible," I whisper. Percy pulls me closer.

"You're incredible," he breathes.

My arms are wrapped tight against his neck, and his hands rest gently at my hips. In his grasp, I feel a certain safety that I've never experienced before.

Everywhere around us seems to be completely deserted, and it feels as though we are the only two people for miles. All around us, the Colosseum is completely dark, and despite one or two windows on the top floors, the only visible light comes from the moon up above and the glow of the pool behind me.

My mouth is inches away from Percy's when suddenly, I get an idea, and a grin makes its way across my face.

Before I lose my nerve, I run my hands down the sides of Percy's torso until I reach the base of my thighs, where the edge of my dress has ridden up to. I grasp the end of my dress in my hands, and before Percy even has a moment to realize what I'm doing, I have pulled the dress completely over my head, revealing the simple grey bathing suit I wear underneath.

Percy's eyes go wide as he takes me in.

Nervously, I tuck my hair behind my ear with a smirk. "Stop gawking seaweed brain."

Percy laughs underneath me, and I throw my dress over his head so that it lands amongst our other stuff.

Based on the mischievous smile that takes over his face, I can tell that Percy knows where I'm planning on going with this.

"Man I am so getting fired," he laughs, shaking his head, and slips his own polo over his head, tossing it behind him.

I can't help the grin that takes over my face at the sight of him.

"Hypocrite," Percy laughs.

I raise my eyebrows at him in question. "Excuse me?"

"You're totally gawking," he says with a smirk.

"Am not," I protest, but I know it's no use. He caught me.

"Mmhm," Percy says as he pulls me into another kiss.

I feel like all the oxygen in me leaves my body the second our lips meet again. Lazily, I bring my fingers up to Percy's hair.

We're only together for a moment when I feel Percy's lips form a smirk beneath mine, and I can't help the laugh that escapes me because, suddenly, I know what's coming. I tighten my grip around Percy's shoulders as he fastens his arms around my waist and pushes off the edge with his legs, sending us both falling into the pool.

I feel the warmth of the water take over me, and I pull Percy closer, locking our lips as tight as possible, holding onto him for dear life.

We stay like that for what feels like hours; liplocked and enveloped in each other.

And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Percy POV

"Yes!" Thalia shouts. "Jason you owe me ten bucks."

Jason leans his head back. "Thals I thought we were just joking around!"

"Oh I never joke about money," Thalia says, and holds out her hand.

Jason reluctantly gives over the cash and Thalia sneers, tucking the money into her jacket pocket.

It's about ten in the morning, and the three of us are currently sitting on the couch in Jason and Thalia's room watching reruns of _Love It or List It. _The two of them always place bets on whether or not the couple on the show will decide to, well, love it or list it, and I thought that Jason would've learned his lesson by now.

Apparently I was wrong.

"Thalia, I swear to gods, how do you always bet correctly?" Jason whines. "It's like you can see the future or something."

"Or something…" Thalia mumbles under her breath.

"What?" Jason asks.

"Nothing."

I laugh. One of these days, Jason is going to figure out that these are reruns and that Thalia's already seen every episode. Until then, however, I'm going to enjoy watching him get cleaned out by his sister.

"Hey, Jase," I say. "Before you put your wallet away, I also need to settle another bet that I know you two made behind my back."

It takes a second for the two of them to catch on to what I'm talking about, but I can tell when they finally do because Jason puts his head in his hands, and the expression that takes over Thalia's face could fool an onlooker into thinking she just won the lottery.

She jumps up out of her seat and screeches, "Percy you didn't!"

I shake my head at her, grinning. "Not that it should be any of your business, but yes. Annabeth and I kissed last night."

"Oh hell yeah!" Thalia shouts, and starts doing a touchdown dance behind the coffee table. "Jason you owe me forty for that one!"

Jason glares at her and reluctantly hands over the cash.

I shake my head at Jason. "Man, I would feel bad for you, except I'm too offended that you bet against me. It's a sad day when Thalia has more faith in me than you do."

Jason crosses his arms. "Oh let's be honest Percy, she definitely had faith in Annabeth, not you."

"It's true," Thalia admits, taking her seat on the couch again.

"Hey!" I say.

"It's just the truth," Thalia shrugs. "Anyway, I gotta go." She waves her new cash in front of our faces. "I'm gonna go treat my girl to a congratulatory brunch."

"Why don't I get a congratulatory brunch?" I pout.

"Because you're not my girl," Thalia says, and stands up, heading for the door.

When I hear the door lock shut behind her, I lean over to Jason. "How long do you think it will take before she realizes Annabeth is working for her mom today."

Jason laughs. "Never. There's no way that's actually how she was going to spend her money."

"True," I chuckle.

The two of us stand up and head into the kitchen.

"You want Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies?" Jason asks, opening the pantry doors.

"Corn Flakes," I say.

Jason shakes his head. "Hopeless."

I grab two bowls and set them on the counter as Jason starts to pour the cereal.

"So, are you bringing Annabeth to the dinner party tonight?" Jason asks.

I mentally groan. I'd totally forgotten about that.

"That's tonight?"

"Uh, yeah that's tonight." Jason puts the cereal boxes away while I grab the spoons. "So, are you taking her or not?"

I shrug. "I don't know man. We literally just kissed for the first time last night. I don't even know if she's my girlfriend yet. Can I even ask her to something like that this early?"

Jason and I sit down at the table.

"Well the way I see it," he starts. "She's gonna be there anyway, so you might as well just go together."

"True," I say, taking a bite.

The idea of asking Annabeth to the resort board's dinner party is so ominous, it makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out again, but I know that Jason's right. She's gonna be there anyway, and if we really are "a thing" now, it'd be weird for me not to ask her.

Reluctantly, I pick up my phone to text Annabeth.

It takes me what feels like an hour try and figure out how ask her, but finally, I just cave and send the stupid text. Then I throw the phone onto the couch and groan, putting my head in my arms on the table. "Why is the world so complicated?"

Jason laughs, finishing off his cereal.

"I'm going to meet Piper," he says, standing up. "See you tonight?"

I shoot him a thumbs up, not bothering to lift my head from the table.

When I finally hear the door shut closed behind Jason, I let out another groan and head over to the couch. I find it kind of funny that I'm in Jason and Thalia's room without either of them here, but I'm not planning on leaving any time soon. (They have better food than I do.)

I check my fallen phone, but Annabeth hasn't responded yet.

I know it's only been like two minutes, but the anticipation is already killing me.

I roll over and look out the window.

For once, it's not sunny out. Dark grey clouds loom in the sky, churning with the sea. The clouds are the same color as Annabeth's eyes, and that makes me smile.

I don't think I'll ever be able to appreciate the sun again, because it would mean that the stormy-grey clouds aren't out to remind me of her.

I can't help the grin that takes over my face when I think back to last night. I still feel like my lips are on fire.

I've kissed girls before, but they were just meaningless pecks. Nothing like what happened with Annabeth last night.

I don't think anything will ever be able to compare to that.

Annabeth had looked beautiful last night, her blond princess curls shining bright in the moonlight. And then we'd kissed, and it had felt like a piece of me that I didn't even know I'd been missing had returned to my body.

Suddenly my phone chimes beside me, ripping me out of my thoughts. I shoot up so fast, I probably give myself whiplash.

I grab my phone and turn it over, glancing Annabeth's name and quickly reading the message. It pretty much takes all my self restraint to not shout out in joy when I see what it says.

DUH, SEAWEED BRAIN. WHO ELSE WOULD I GO WITH, MY MOM?

I read it one more time just to make sure my mind isn't playing tricks on me, then decide to head back to my room, better food be damned. I need to get ready.

I get up, grab a bag of potato chips from Thalia and Jason's cabinet, and dash out the door.

As soon as I'm back in my room, I lay out my suit and tie on my bed. This summer has honest to gods probably been the most I've ever had to wear a suit in my life, and it makes me feel bougie af.

I make sure to text Annabeth about arrangements and call my dad to tell him that I'll meet him at the dinner party.

I'm so jittery, I even go as far as to lay out my socks.

Stupid ADHD.

The next couple of hours pass like molasses. I feel like time decided to slow down just to be annoying, and I'm pretty sure that I see the clock tick backwards at least three times. I slowly watch it grow brighter outside, and then darker, and my nerves escalate with every minute that passes by.

I try watching Netflix and playing videogames, but I can't focus on anything. The idea of seeing Annabeth again is all-consuming.

I can't help that I keep thinking back to last night. To the feel of Annabeth's lips on mine and my hands around her waist. I remember the way her hair had fanned out around her in the water, making her look surreal, like the subject of a painting.

I almost physically ache to see her again. It's like now that I know what it's like to kiss her, I'll never be able to get enough.

In addition to thinking about Annabeth, I also can't help but think about what she disclosed to me last night… All the stuff about the confidential files she found.

The idea that the resort is probably engaged in illegal environmental affairs that will make my dad's job complicated scares me out of my mind, but the idea that Annabeth would put herself at risk to tell me about it scares me even more.

It means the world to me that she would risk disclosing something like that for me, but she put herself in serious danger to do so. This is a messy situation, and if anything were to happen to her, I'd never be able to handle it.

I decide that I can't tell my dad about what Annabeth found out. I know that it would put his mind at ease to know that there is a reason (however messy it may be) that he can't acquire his research permits, but I could never do anything at Annabeth's expense.

If something were to happen to her because of me, I could never live with myself.

No, I have to keep this a secret for her sake.

Man, when did my life get so complicated?

Around 5:30, I hop in the shower and then get dressed in my suit.

When it's time to go, I hop into my car, and as I start driving, I feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest.

I have no idea what the expectation is for tonight, and it makes me nervous as hell. Are we in a relationship? Am I supposed to introduce Annabeth as my girlfriend?

I'm also surprised to find that some small part of me is worried that our dynamic won't be the same. What if the kiss changed something important between us?

I take a deep breath and as I pull onto the street her room is on, trying to calm myself.

When I finally get up enough courage, I step out of the car and head up to Annabeth's door.

I've just barely touched the door to knock when it swings open under my hand, scaring the shit out of me.

I jump back and Annabeth smirks.

"Jumpy much?"

I blush. "Not as much as you apparently, I barely even touched the door before you threw it open."

Annabeth's eyebrows scrunch together in playful anger, and she lightly punches my arm. "Oh shut up."

Annabeth looks amazing, despite the fact that she just punched me. She has on this sleeveless, light pink dress that makes my pulse race even faster than it already was, if that's even possible. The dress is high collared and floor-length, and Annabeth's long blond hair is braided down her back.

But the most beautiful part about her is her smile. She grins, and I feel like I've just seen sunlight for the first time in a century.

Annabeth laughs. "Percy, if you stare any harder, you're going to burn holes through the dress."

I smirk. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

When she punches me this time, it's a lot harder than before.

"Oh shut up," she smirks.

I nervously mess with my hair. "But seriously, you look incredible," I say.

Annabeth stares into my eyes for a moment before slowly leaning forward, and placing a kiss on my cheek.

She lingers there for a moment before pulling away. "Thank you."

I feel heat rush to my face, but somehow I still have enough self control to offer my elbow to Annabeth.

"Shall we?"

She throws her head back with a laugh, but takes my arm anyway, and we head down to my car.

When we reach the doors, Annabeth stops abruptly.

"Hold on," she says, and then straightens her posture and makes her way over to the driver's side, opening the door and motioning for me to get in. "Sir, your chariot awaits."

I can't help the laugh that escapes me. "Is this reverse-chivalry thing going to go on forever?"

"Absolutely."

I chuckle and get in the car as Annabeth holds open the door. As soon as I'm in, Annabeth shuts the door behind me and then begins making her way to the passenger side.

I watch her through the windshield as she walks in front of the car, completely in awe. How on earth did I ever get this lucky?

When Annabeth gets in the car and sits down next to me, I watch as she puts on her seatbelt and straightens her dress. She looks like a goddess.

When she sits back, Annabeth finally seems to notice that I've been staring at her, and her cheeks turn as pink as her dress. She looks adorable when she blushes.

Slowly, I reach over and wrap my fingers through hers. Annabeth gives my hand a light squeeze. Her reassurance means everything.

We're both venturing into uncharted territory, but as scary as it is, it's one of the best things I've ever experienced.

I look down at our interlocked hands.

Something about the sight just feels _right. _

And whatever worries I had been harboring about our relationship changing evaporate in that moment. Because our relationship _is_ different now, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I shoot Annabeth one last smile before turning my attention to the road, and heading off for the Colosseum.

We hold hands the whole way there.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Annabeth POV

I'd never seen the resort's ballroom before tonight, and I've got to say, I feel like I've stepped into the ballroom of a castle. The room is lined with marble columns that stretch all the way up to the domed ceiling, and a brilliant chandelier hangs from above, its crystals so delicate I feel as though they might shatter under my gaze.

The tall, arched windows that line the walls have a brilliant view of the blossoming roses in the resort's gardens and the pitch black sky outside. The ballroom is on the highest floor of the Colosseum, so through the windows we also have a view of the city lights and the Los Angeles skyline.

I inhale sharply, biting the inside of my cheek.

One day I'm going to create something just as brilliant as this.

Beside me, Percy's voice startles me out of my thoughts. "Hey, you good?"

I look over at him, and not for the first time tonight, I appreciate just how handsome he looks. Percy's sea-green eyes stand out brilliantly against the darkness of his charcoal suit, and he looks more put together than I've ever seen him.

Except maybe his hair. That was always going to be a lost cause.

I smile up at Percy. "Never better."

He grins, and together, we move forward into the ballroom.

All around us, couples in crisp suits and cocktail dresses roam around, smiling and holding champagne glasses. The more colorful clothing stands out brilliantly against the whiteness of the marble ballroom, and I can't help but think that the whole place looks like a modernized version of an old painting.

Tonight is the annual Olympus Resort board dinner party, and I've got to say, it lives up to its prestigious reputation. Dozens of donors and timeshare owners are intermixed with a few people I recognize who are actually on the resort board with my mom. There are also a couple of teenagers sprinkled here and there, no doubt children who got roped into this just like Percy and me.

I sneak a glance at Percy while he's not looking, and I can't help but smile when I notice the way the moonlight catches his hair, giving it a silvery glow. When Percy catches me starring at him, he flushes.

"Why are you smiling?" He asks. "Do I have something weird on my face?"

I smirk. "Nothing that isn't usually there."

Percy makes a face and playfully bumps me with his shoulder, making me laugh.

We're a lot closer now, and I can feel the heat of his arm against mine. And almost against my will, I slowly snake my hand around his wrist, wrapping my fingers through his.

Percy beams down at me, holding my eyes for a long moment before saying, "Let's go find the others."

We make our way through the ballroom, weaving our way through couples and cocktail tables as we do. I nudge Percy when I spot our friends, and together, we head over to them.

Jason and Thalia stand close together with Piper and Luke right behind them. Jason and Thalia's arms are crossed over their chests, and they appear to be arguing over something. No doubt it's something stupid.

Jason looks handsome in his licorice colored suit and blue tie, and Thalia looks down right gorgeous as well. She wears a long, black, two-pice dress that has a collared neck and exposes her midriff. Her choppy hair is pulled back with a thin, silver headband, and her electric blue eyes stand out more than ever.

"I can't believe you've been playing me this whole time," Jason whines.

"I can't help it that you were too dumb to figure it out!" Thalia protests.

Beside each of the siblings, Piper and Luke are leaning against the wall, looking annoyed. This argument has probably been going on for a while. Piper wears a light green, sleeveless gown and has her long, chestnut hair pulled up in a bun. Her eyes go wide when she sees Percy and me approaching.

"Oh thank gods," she says, sitting up. Then she smiles. "Oh Annabeth, you look absolutely beautiful!"

I feel my cheeks go red. "Says you!"

Piper just waves me off. "Don't be ridiculous." Then she notices Percy and me holding hands and grins, "You're a lucky guy Percy."

Percy smiles and looks down at me. "Don't I know it."

I playfully nudge him with my shoulder, embarrassed. "Stop it. Both of you," I say indignantly, even though really, I feel like jumping up and down.

"Yeah, yeah, she looks downright gorgeous," Thalia says not once breaking the death stare she's giving Jason. "Now will one of you _please_ tell Jason I didn't do anything wrong."

"Thalia you saw all of them!" He says. "You were scamming me, pure and simple, and I want my money back."

Thalia finally breaks her stare to turn to Percy for assurance. "A little support?"

"Nah, I'm enjoying this."

I turn to Percy "Care to explain?" I ask, suddenly growing very entertained by the scene that is unfolding in front of us.

Percy cocks his head. "For a couple of weeks, Jason and Thals have been placing bets on _Love It or List it_. I'm guessing Jase finally found out that Thalia has already seen every episode."

Jason turns on Percy. "Wait, you knew about this!"

"Oh shit," Percy mumbles beside me.

Jason shakes his head. "My own cousin and my own sister. Unbelievable."

Piper leans over and grabs his hand. "I think we're gonna go cool off. Come on Sparky." Piper gives me one last wink over Jason's shoulder, and together they begin walking towards the refreshments table on the other side of the room.

After a moment, Thalia crosses her arms defiantly. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Beside her, Luke smirks, shaking his head. "Of course you didn't."

I look over at him. Luke is leaning casually against the wall, his arms tucked behind his back. He has his hair gelled and he fiddles with his cufflinks distractedly.

Once again, I get that sudden pang of familiarity when I see him, and it makes me incredibly uneasy. I don't remember ever knowing Luke from anywhere before coming to the resort, but for whatever reason, my subconscious seems to think I do.

Luke meets my eyes, and I quickly turn away.

Strangely, I get the sense that he knows slightly more than he's letting on, but I set the thought aside. I'm probably just being paranoid.

All of a sudden, a loud voice booms over the ballroom.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the voice says. "Thank you for coming to the annual Olympus Resort Board and Donner Dinner Party. The meal will commence shortly, so if you would please make your way to the Dining Area, it would be greatly appreciated."

Thalia turns toward Percy and me. "Well, that's our cue," she says. "See ya," and she and Luke begin heading in the direction of one of the archways that leads into the dining hall.

Percy squeezes my hand. "We should probably head over too."

I nod reluctantly. "Wouldn't want to miss anything exciting," I say sarcastically, making Percy laugh.

He and I follow Thalia and Luke to the arch, but we split off from them once we enter the room since we're going to be sitting in different sections.

The dining area is this big, elegant room with gold trimming and a long table that runs for several feet. There must be dozens of chairs lining the table, and each one has a fancy little placard with one of the guest's names on it.

"Let's go find our names," Percy says, still holding my hand.

I'm glad he hasn't let go yet.

We join the throng of people that are moving towards the table and follow closely behind, reading the placards as we circle the room.

When we finally find our names, I'm glad to find that we are sitting near the edge of the table (inconspicuous escape if the need arises).

I can tell Percy is about to pull out my chair for me, so I shoot him a glare. "Uh-uh. You know the drill."

Percy laughs and steps back as I pull out his chair for him.

"You know, I could get used to this," he jokes, and I give him a light punch as we sit down.

Around us, other people begin taking their seats, and Percy and I make small talk for a little bit as they do, making fun of some particularly pretentious looking couples.

The whole room is absolutely gorgeous, coated in these ancient-looking tapestries. I feel like I've been thrown into the past, and the thought makes me smile.

That is, until someone particularly annoying takes a seat across from Percy and me, ruining any sense of peace we'd found.

The kid who sits down across from us has light blond hair, and a hallowed face. He appears to have a permanent scowl that simply reeks of conceit. On his wrists are two Rolex watches I know I couldn't afford to buy even if I worked for a decade.

"Honestly, they call this a ballroom," the boy grumbles, and Percy and I exchange annoyed glances.

I turn back to the kid. "Hi," I say giving him a slight wave, "I'm Annabeth Chase, and this is Percy Jackson."

Percy holds out his hand for the boy to shake. "How you doing?"

The boy looks down at Percy's hand, as if seizing up just how many germs he could contract from it, but then decides to shake it, probably figuring that anyone at this dinner party is probably someone worth his time.

"Octavian Augur," the boy says.

Around us, some more couples have filled in the seats, though a few are still empty.

The boy, Octavian, tilts his chin up, "So, what's your connection?" He asks.

I want to roll my eyes, but instead, I just smile sweetly and say, "Architect's daughter."

"Huh," Octavian nods, apparently satisfied, and then turns his gaze to Percy. "And you?"

By the way his jaw is clenched, I can tell Percy already hates this kid, but like me, he just puts on a smile. "Owner's nephew," he says.

Octavian's eyebrows shoot up. "Impressive," he says. "I'm repping for my parents tonight. We're investors. They would come, but they had something more pressing to attend."

His voice reeks of arrogance as he says it, as if having to come to a fancy, exclusive dinner party at one of the fanciest resorts in the country is some kind of major burden.

I don't know how to respond to that, but luckily I don't have to, because just then, a man in a crisp suit and a woman who is seriously decked out in diamonds walk over to the table. "Octavian!" the man says, he and the woman taking the seats beside Octavian. "How are your parents doing?"

Octavian turns on his charm like he's flipped a switch, and immediately begins kissing up to the couple, completely forgetting about Percy and I.

Gods this kid was annoying.

Percy squeezes my hand under the table, and I shoot him a grateful smile. There are few things I hate in this world more than fake people, but feeling Percy's hand around mine reminds me that not everyone is like that.

A couple of seats down, I notice my mom take a seat near the head of the table. She looks elegant with her long, blond hair tied back and a silvery dress that brings out the color of her eyes.

When she catches my eye, I shoot her a smile. In response, she gives me a curt nod.

I roll my eyes, turning away.

Percy seems to have noticed my exchange with my mom, and he bumps my shoulder playfully, obviously trying to cheer me up.

"Hey, we've already fulfilled our duty of appearance," he says. "What do you say we get out of here for a little while?"

I look at him. "Percy…"

"Percy what?" He asks. "I can tell you want to be here even less than I do, and that's saying something."

The corner of my lips twitches up in amusement. "We can't just leave," I protest, but even as I do, I feel my subconscious think, _well, why not? _

"Why not?" Percy says mirroring my thoughts. "Our parents have seen us already, and no one will notice if we're missing for a while."

I look into Percy's eyes. They're wild, and brilliant, and I can't help being completely attracted to him right now.

I smile. "Alright."

"Yes!" Percy pumps his fist subtly.

"As long as we're back for dessert," I say. "There's no way I'm missing a chance to pig out on rich people chocolate soufflé."

"Oh of course," Percy says smiling. "That was a given."

Casually, the two of us rise from our seats, sliding our chairs in behind us. We begin making our way down the table towards the exit, and I'm careful not to be seen by my mom as we do.

As beautiful as that room had been, I feel like I'm breathing in a breath of fresh air as soon as we step into the hallway. Being around that many pompous assholes makes you claustrophobic.

"So, where to?" I ask Percy, teasingly.

He puts his hand to his chin, thinking for a moment before he grins and says, "Let's let the fates decide."

I cock an eyebrow "I don't even want to know what that means."

Percy laughs. "Pick a number."

I don't hesitate. "Three."

Percy nods approvingly. "Good choice."

Then, he makes his way to the side of the hall and begins to walk, trailing his hand against the wall.

I follow behind him. "Percy what are you-"

"Uh-uh," he says. "We don't question fate."

I roll my eyes at him, but I'm smiling. "You're such a seaweed brain."

After a couple of steps, we pass a door, and as soon as Percy's hand crosses over it, he says outloud, "One."

Catching on, I shake my head. "Oh no Percy, I don't-"

"Two," Percy says, as we pass a second door. He's smirking so hard I could slap him.

"Percy-" I warn, but it's too late, we've already reached another door.

"Three!" Percy says, and pushes open the door to his right.

The door opens up into a long, fluorescent hallway that is such a stark contrast from the expensive lighting of the hallway we're currently in that it seriously throws me off.

Percy grins mischievously. "After you," he says.

I shake my head at him, but I'm grinning. "You know this could literally lead anywhere," I say, stepping through the door. "What if we're heading into someone's private room?"

"If it leads into someone's private room," Percy starts, letting the door swing shut behind him. "Then they are incredibly stupid for leaving it unlocked. I mean, what kind of people don't account for pesky teenagers in fancy attire prowling the hallways at night opening random doors?"

I laugh, and Percy and I walk down the hall for a little bit. The path winds and dips, and in addition to wondering why on earth the resort has all of these hidden hallways, I start to worry that Percy and I are going to get lost. After about a minute however, we're suddenly hit by a burst of various aromas I can't quite place, and we both walk a little bit further, suddenly curious.

Percy and I turn a corner, and I'm surprised to see that it opens up into this giant fluorescent-lit kitchen space with dozens of table tops all lined with plates of food.

"Oh no way!" Percy says beside me. "We found the kitchen!"

I laugh. "There's no way we have jurisdiction to be back here."

Percy shrugs, smirking. "You and I have done worse."

Grinning, I walk forward, deeper into the room. "You can say that again," I remark, looking around.

The tables are all lined up in perfect alignment, and the food that lies on top of each surface seems to be separated by what course they're supposed to be brought out in. One has salads, another has soup, and further down I see all the dishes they're offering for the main course. Then, just past that, something I see catches my eye.

"Percy," I say, a grin slowly making its way to my face.

Percy cocks an eyebrow. "Uh oh," he says. "I know that face. That face scares me."

I grab his arm and drag him past the first couple rows of tables until we reach the one I have in mind.

The dessert table is covered in what looks like a million different dishes. Lemon cakes and chocolate mousse and creme brulee and dozens more I couldn't even begin to name.

I bite my lip, nodding my head mischievously. "Oh yeah."

Percy's eyes go wide when he sees my expression, and he quickly shakes his head. "Um, I think you mean oh _no_."

"Oh come on!" I groan. "No one will notice if a few go missing. There are way too many desserts here for everyone in that room. Even if people had two of everything, there'd still be leftovers."

Percy pauses, seeming to consider this. Then he shrugs. "I guess I can't argue with that logic."

I laugh at how easily he caves, and I take a step towards the table, feeling evil. "What should we try first?"

Percy grins and steps toward a group of cupcakes with blue icing, grabbing one and taking a bite out of it. As soon as the dessert is in his mouth, he groans. "Oh, this is amazing."

I smile, immediately remembering the story Percy had disclosed to me about his mother and their running joke of eating blue food. There is something so endearing about the fact that that tradition means as much to him as it does.

Percy's mouth quirks up, and he holds out the cupcake to me. "Try it."

I reach my hand out to grab the cupcake from him, but Percy pulls it back with a shake of his head, his grin growing mischievous. He holds it out again, and this time, I get his meaning.

I feel my heart skip a beat, but I don't hesitate. Slowly, I lean forward, taking a bite of the cupcake in his hand. Percy and I both burst out laughing as the icing gets on my face and he playfully pulls me close with his free hand, brushing his thumb across my lower lip to wipe away the frosting.

There is something so light and casual about his touch, it makes my heart flutter. I've never been this casually intimate with a guy before, and I've got to say, it's one of the best feelings in the world.

I quickly lean forward and place a quick peck on the corner of his lips.

The kiss is light and playful, nothing like the heated one we shared last night, but there is something equally as special about this one. An innocent happiness that makes me want to melt from the inside out.

When I pull away, Percy has a massive grin on his face. "We should leave our lives in the hands of the fates more often," he jokes

I roll my eyes and playfully elbow him. "Okay seaweed brain."

We spend the next couple of minutes just like that, eating random deserts off the table and just playing around. I find my heart growing fonder for Percy with every moment that passes, and the happiness I feel right now is so incredible, it almost scares me.

The two of us are sitting on the floor by one of the tables, taking turns spooning from a bowl of sorbet, when all of a sudden, we hear footsteps and voices coming from the hallway.

Percy and I look at eachother, eyes wide. Then we look at the mess of empty bowls and plates around us, and the panic we're both feeling seems to multiply by a million.

"What do we do?" Percy whispers hurriedly.

The voices from the hallway grow louder.

_Think Annabeth, think. _

Very quickly, without even realizing what I'm doing, I begin to slide the dirty plates under the table.

Percy's jaw drops. "You want us to hide the plates under the table?"

I shrug apprehensively, and immediately continue shoving some used napkins under the table cloth.

Percy laughs. "You're amazing," he says, and begins helping me shove everything under.

We quickly shove the last two items under the table, just as some workers turn the corner into the room. There are five men, all in waiters' outfits, and all _shocked_ to see two teenagers standing around a dessert table with a huge portion of the dishes missing. We make eye contact with them for a moment, before Percy shouts, "Run!"

He doesn't have to tell me twice.

"Hey!" one of the waiters shouts, but we're too quick. Percy and I dip past him, into the hallway.

We zoom down the hallway as fast as we can, and as we run, I burst out laughing. Percy joins in, and pretty soon, we can barely run we're laughing so hard.

"Did you see the look on his face?" I weeze, slowing down as we finally make it back to the door we came through in the first place.

"Yeah, they were not expecting anyone to be in there," Percy laughs, opening the door. He holds it open for me, and I step through.

My feet are killing me after running in heels, even if just for a couple seconds, but I find that I don't care. I'm on two much of an energy high.

Percy closes the door behind him and turns to me. As soon as we make eye contact though, the two of us can't help but fall into another bout of laughter.

"We should head back," I say between giggles. "Before they find out about the plates under the table."

Percy grins and takes my hand. "Good idea."

As the two of us make our way down the hallway, I lean my head on Percy's shoulder, feeling completely content.

When we arrive back at the large double doors that lead into the ballroom and dining area, I find that I don't even really mind being back here, as long as Percy's hand is around mine.

We make our way back to our spots at the table, and I'm not surprised to find that no one seems to have even noticed that we were gone.

The next couple of hours go by fairly uneventfully. The waiters bring out plate after plate of food, and I'm thankful to say that we don't have any unwanted, awkward encounters with the men we had ran from back in the kitchen. All the food looks amazing, but Percy and I barely eat a thing, too full from our pre-dinner dessert.

Periodically throughout the dinner, I glance way down to the other end of the table where Thalia and Luke sit with Jason and Piper over near Zeus. Our friends look like they're having a good time, but part of me is glad that we aren't sitting near them. If we had been, Percy and I wouldn't have been able to bond like we are.

Later in the evening as the dinner is drawing to a close and everyone is enjoying coffee and nibbling on leftover carrot cake, I'm just about ready to go home, so I mentally groan when Zeus taps his knife on his glass to signify that he's going to make a speech.

Zeus looks intense in his pinstripe suit, and Hera sits at his side, a string of pearls around her neck and hear dark hair pulled up in a bun. She looks like the ideal poster wife if I ever saw one, and the thought makes me want to roll my eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Zeus says, clearing his throat once everyone has ceased their conversations.

_Here we go, _I think, leaning back in my seat.

Zeus continues. "First of all, I just wanted to thank you all for coming here tonight. It means so much to us on the board to have such a supportive group of donors, investors, and consistent customers making this resort worthwhile. We would not be where we are today if not for your business."

There is a slight round of applause, and I roll my eyes as Zeus carries on.

"Anywho," he states, rapping his knuckles on the table. "We did not solely invite you here tonight for the purpose of expressing our thanks. We invited you here in large part because we have an important announcement to make on behalf of the resort."

There is some slight muttering in response from the audience.

Zeus clears his throat. "Olympus Resort is proud to announce that beginning this summer, we will be getting started on some incredible expansion plans for the hotel. Everything you already know and love will be bigger and better. Classier and grander. Olympus Resort will be like nothing anyone has ever seen before, and you all are the team that has made this possible."

The audience erupts into applause.

"Thank you for your generosity," Zeus concludes, sitting down.

All around us, couples in their expensive jewelry and conceited expressions clap as the resort announces plans to expand, but I wonder, _Would they be clapping if they knew exactly what it was they were clapping for? _

At that moment, all that I had uncovered within the confidential files rises to the surface of my mind. The fact that the resort is hiding things and telling lies to cover up for whatever wrong they're doing.

I look over at Percy, and immediately I can tell he is thinking the exact same thing as me.

What will the resort's expansion mean for those who stand in its way?

I shudder, and noticing my discomfort, Percy grabs my hand under the table. His eyes are warm, and I admire him so much for trying to comfort me.

I smile and squeeze his hand.

_Everything will be fine, _I think. _As long as we're together. _


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Annabeth POV

I hate myself for looking. I hate myself for giving him that kind of power over me, especially after what he did. But I can't help it. I check my phone again to see if there's a text from my dad. Nothing.

Over the past week, my dad has stopped by my room to look for me a total of two times. Both times, I turned off the light and pretended that I wasn't here. He's texted me about five times, and even went as far as to call three days ago, but I think he gave up after that.

I don't want to talk to my dad at all, but I guess a part of me still holds out hope that he cares more for me than he's letting on, so I keep checking my phone. And when I see that there's nothing there, a sudden surge of sadness washes over me. I'm used to him not reaching out, but for him to not reach out to me today of all days? That was a low, even for him.

Today's my eighteenth birthday. The thought both excites me and scares the shit out of me at the same time. On the one hand, I'm my own person now. Legally, I can make my own decisions and be in charge of myself. But that also means that I'm moving on, and change has always been something that's scared me.

Though I guess not all change is bad. I look around me at my new friends. It's hard to believe I've only known them for a little over a month.

For my birthday, the girls decided it would be fun to go out for lunch and then get our nails done. Trust me, I'm not a manicure person, but I'm really enjoying myself right now. Even though I've never put too much thought into my nail care, I've never been to a spa before, so this is kind of special for me. I guess spas are just another one of the million things you miss out on when you hardly ever see your mom growing up, so it means a lot to me to be here right now.

Across from me, Piper and Hazel talk lightly as the two women who sit on stools by their chairs do their nails. On my left, Reyna is reading a magazine, her feet soaking in a bowl, and Thalia sits on my left, arguing with the poor woman trying to do her nails.

"Ow! Not so much lady! I still need _some _cuticles left when this is over," she complains.

I laugh. "Thals, you're probably the most difficult person I know."

Thalia shoots me a glare. "I'll let that slide," she says, "but only because it's your birthday."

I smile. She's right. This is my day, and I shouldn't be letting anything get me down. Not the resort scandal, not my internship, and definitely not my dad. I decide to put him on 'do not disturb,' and slip my phone into my back pocket. Much better.

Beside me, Reyna puts down her magazine. "So," she starts with a smirk. "What time is Percy picking you up again?"

I feel my cheeks go hot, and beside me, Thalia lets out a laugh.

"Man she's as bright as a tomato!"

"Awe, leave her alone Thals," Hazel interjects.

"Thank you!' I say to Hazel. Then, turning to Reyna, I can't help the grin that takes over my face when I say, "Four o'clock."

"Ugahhh I'm so happy for you guys," Piper lightly squeals. "You're so adorable together."

Beside me, Thalia coughs. "Um, let's not forget who _basically_ got them together in the first place," she says, pointing to herself proudly.

Reyna rolls her eyes dismissively. "Okay Thals."

"What, it's true!" Thalia protests, making me laugh.

The truth is, I couldn't be more excited. I've had an amazing day today with my friends, and now I'm going to be spending the rest of the day with my boyfriend.

Gods, that word was amazing.

I know that Percy has something planned, but honestly, I couldn't care less what it is. Just knowing that I'm going to be spending time with him is the best birthday gift a girl could ask for. I quickly check my phone for the time. Only twenty minutes till he gets here.

The lady who's doing my nails finally finishes and begins packing up her things. "Thank you," I tell her, and she shoots me a smile in return before heading back to the front desk.

The rest of my friends are just about finished as well, and once the last bottle of polish has been capped, we all slip on our flip flops and head to the front to pay.

I look out the window at the gorgeous, sunny skyline. The spa is on a little cliff that overlooks the sea, and the entire place is one of the most peaceful places I've ever stepped foot in in my life. I might have to put my distaste for manicures aside and come back sometime.

Once we're all paid, the girls and I step outside. It's unbelievably warm out, and I'm suddenly very glad that I decided to wear a light, breezy, white t-shirt underneath my overalls, along with my hair braided loosely in the back.

I turn to my friends. "Well, we have about ten minutes to kill," I say. "What do you guys want to do?"

"Nope," Thalia says, looking up from her phone. "He's ready. Operation Annabae-Birthday is a go."

I just barely have time to say, "Annawhah-" before I see Piper smirk, and Reyna pulls a blindfold over my eyes from sun disappears, and the black blindfold takes over my vision.

I laugh and roll my eyes, though I guess no one can see that part. "Is this really necessary?" I ask, cocking an eyebrow.

"Eh, probably not," I hear Thalia say beside me, "but you look ridiculous, so it _is_ necessary for my happiness."

"Good to know what kinds of things bring you joy," I joke.

Piper yanks my arm. "This way," she says.

We walk for a little bit, where to, I can't tell you, but the entire time I'm super worried that Piper will accidentally lead me into a tree or something.

"I'm still mad that Percy gets you for the second half of the day," Thalia grumbles as we walk. "But everyone said that it was only fair-"

"He's her boyfriend," Hazel interrupts.

Thalia huffs. "Well she likes me better. Right Annabeth?"

Just then, Piper excitedly shouts, "We're here!" saving me from having to answer.

"Thank gods," I say. "Does that mean you guys can take this thing off me."

"Yep!" Reyna says from behind me.

I start to feel the blindfold being pulled off slowly, and as the bright sunlight starts to flood in, my vision returns, and I can't help the gasp of surprise that escapes me.

In front of me, Percy grins sheepishly, his hands up at the sides of my face as he finishes pulling off my blindfold.

"Happy birthday wise girl," he says, staring straight into my eyes.

I quickly bring my hands up to his cheeks and kiss him hard on the lips. Percy stumbles backwards when I do, clearly not expecting me to do that, but I don't care. I haven't seen him in almost two days, which may not sound like a lot, but to me it's felt like an eternity.

When I finally pull away, Percy looks so surprised, I can't help but laugh out loud. A giant smile stretches over his face, and just knowing that I have the power to make someone smile like that is the most endearing thing in the world.

"Okay fine," Thalia grumbles. "Maybe she doesn't like me better."

On the curb behind Percy sits a Harley, the motorcycle shining in the sunlight. It has two helmets hanging from the handlebars, and when I notice that, my eyes go wide.

"Is that yours!" I ask Percy.

He grins. "Maybe."

I gawk at him. "How on earth do you know how to ride a motorcycle?"

"Gabe taught him," Thalia chimes in, sounding disgusted.

Percy just shrugs though, smirking. "Guess the jerk was good for something after all."

I grab his hand in reassurance, which makes him smile.

"You take good care of her now," Thalia warns Percy from behind me.

"Oh please," Reyna interjects. "We all know it's _Annabeth_ who will be taking care of _him_."

Percy rolls his eyes, grinning.

I look over my shoulder and shoot my friends a smile. "Thanks for today guys. I love you."

"We love you too," Piper remarks, reaching forward to give my hand a quick squeeze.

"Have fun!" Hazel says with a little wave.

"But not too much fun," Thalia warns and Reyna pulls her away.

I watch them disappear behind the corner, smiling.

Beside me, Percy leans over to grab the helmets. "You ready?" he asks.

I grin up at him, taking the smaller helmet from his arms. "Am I ever."

Percy straddles the bike, and I follow his lead, leaning into the seat behind him. Tentatively, I snake my arms around his chest, my cheeks growing hot. I'm suddenly very glad that I'm behind him so that he can't see the flushed smile that takes over my expression.

I haven't been this close to Percy physically since the night of our first kiss. We've definitely kissed since then, but never with our bodies touching as much as they are now. I lean closer into Percy, if that's even possible, trying to close every gap of space that separates us.

His muscles tense beneath my arms, his back shifting under my chest. I place my forehead between his shoulder blades and wrap my arms tighter around him as I do. Percy may be the one driving right now, but I'm definitely the one in control.

I feel him laugh beneath me. "Man, I did not think this through," he says.  
"Think what through?"

"How on earth I'm supposed to focus with you holding onto me like that," he laughs, which makes me smile like crazy.

Percy revs the engine, saying something, but I can't hear him over the noise.

"What?" I shout at him. "I can't hear you!"

Percy shouts again. "You ready?"

I don't hesitate. "One hundred percent!"

I feel Percy laugh beneath me one last time, and just like that, we're off. We zoom through the streets of the resort, my braid blowing in the wind behind me as we do. I grasp onto Percy for dear life as we head past the Colosseum and under the entryway arches. We make a sharp turn onto the highway, and my stomach bubbles with excitement. It's impossible to talk like this, but I don't mind that at all. Just being with Percy, feeling him under me, is enough.

We ride down the coast for about forty-five minutes, weaving in and out of cars as we do. I'd probably never admit it, but Percy's a super good driver. I guess he'd have to be, considering that he learned to ride in New York where people seem to think that traffic lights are just a suggestion.

We pass a couple of bluffs and neighborhoods before we finally head into the city. It's a brilliant day, and everyone is out one the streets, either walking their dogs or riding their bikes.

It's hard to believe that Percy and I have only been dating for a little over a week. I feel like I've known him all my life. People always say that they feel like they've always known the person when they first start to fall for someone, and I guess I never put much stock in it.

That is, until I met Percy and experienced it firsthand.

We're in downtown LA now. The buildings are taller and the streets are denser. This is the only part of LA that reminds me of a normal city because it isn't super spread out. I almost feel like I'm back in New York for a minute, even if downtown LA is only fraction of the size of Manhattan.

Percy and I pull into a parking garage, heading up a couple of stories before he parks the harley.

When we get off, I'm almost disappointed. Now I don't have an excuse to wrap my arms around him.

I hand Percy my helmet, and he secures it onto the motorcycle.

"So, what'd you think?" he asks as he turns back towards me.

I shrug. "It was okay."

"Only okay?" Percy cocks an eyebrow, jokingly, totally knowing I'm lying.

"Below average even," I tease. "We should probably go again. You know, just to make sure."

He breaks into a smile. "Uh-huh, sure."

Percy wraps an arm around my shoulders as we begin to walk, and I can't help the grin that takes over my face.

"So," I start. "Where on earth are you taking me?"

Percy squeezes me tighter. "You're just gonna have to wait and see," he says. "But I promise you'll love it."

We head down the elevator to the first floor where we make our way out onto the main street. We're across from a big, open, grassy plaza. I look around, but I honestly have no idea where Percy could be taking me.

"This way," he says, leading me to the crosswalk.

When we get to the other side of the street, there are dozens of people spread out on the grass or just walking around. Percy brings his arm down to take my hand, and leads me in the direction of a booth that has a large cluster of people around it.

At first, I can't make out the sign, but when I do, my heart skips a beat, and I stop in my tracks.

"Oh my gods!" I shriek, turning to Percy, a grin taking over my face. "How did you know?"

He smiles sheepishly. "You had a flier for it in your room."

The booth ahead of us is for a walking tour of LA that I've been dying to go on ever since I got here. It's basically a historical tour that takes you to all of the architectural landmarks in downtown like the Angels Flight Railway, the Bradbury building, and a few more. It would probably seem like the most uninteresting thing in the entire world to anyone else, and the fact that Percy decided to take me here means the world to me. The fact that he cares enough about me to know that this is something I would love means the world to me.

Carefully, I place my hands on Percy's shoulders, leaning forward to plant a kiss on his cheek. I hold myself there, bringing my lips to his ear.

"Thank you," I say. As I pull back, Percy holds my gaze. Slowly, he brings his arm up to the side of my face and rubs his thumb across my temple.

"Of course," he says.

The man behind the booth calls for everyone to sign in, and we walk up, taking our place in the line. I try to keep myself from laughing at the fact that Percy and I are probably the only two people under the age of sixty here, and I lean my head on Percy's shoulder as we wait.

The evening is incredible, and the walking tour is brilliant. I enjoy every moment of it, and I only have to correct the tour guide once. The sun begins to go down when Percy and I are on the Angel's Flight, and a nice lady and her husband who I'd been talking to throughout the tour offer to take a photo of Percy and me on the railway in front of the sunset. Normally, I find that I have to force myself to smile when I take photos, but as soon as Percy kisses my forehead, I know that the photo will be brilliant, because every ounce of happiness in my expression is genuine in that moment.

I find the information fascinating, and I love all of the ties that the tour has to old Hollywood. Being a history professor, my dad's always been really into old black and white movies, and it's one of the only things he and I really ever got to bond over, so hearing the backstories behind all of the old theaters and such really tugs at my heart.

I try not to let thoughts of my dad get me down too much.

By the time we get back to the booth in the plaza, it's dark out. We say goodbye to the nice, older couple who had taken our photo earlier, and I hold Percy's hand as we walk back across the street where a line of restaurants await us. Downtown is lit up brilliantly. It's no New York, mind you, but it does have its own little sense of magic.

Percy and I decide to get dinner in an old fashioned, 50's style diner where we both order burgers and split a shake. He holds my hand across the table, and I can't help but feel that his hand is almost an extension of my own at this point.

"Thanks for today," I tell him. "No one's ever done something like that for me before."

Percy cocks his head to the side, his eyebrows drawing together. "What do you mean?" he asks, giving my hand a squeeze.

I shrug. "You knew exactly the kind of thing I'd want to do," I say. Suddenly, I find it hard to meet his eyes. "You paid attention." For some reason, my voice breaks a little on that last part.

A moment passes before, out of the corner of my vision, I see Percy stand up. He begins making his way to my side of the table, and as he does, he never once lets go of my hand. He slides into my side of the booth, scooching up until he's right next to me and bringing his free hand up to my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes.

"You are worth paying attention to," Percy says, his green eyes carrying an intensity I've never seen from him before. "And don't ever let anything that has happened in your life make you think otherwise."

I close my eyes and slowly lean my forehead against Percy's. We're so close, I can feel his breathing against my lips.

How was it that this boy knew exactly what to say to me? That out of all the words in the entire universe, he knows me so well that he can pick just the ones I need to hear?

Very lightly, I brush my lips against his, like what a whisper would feel like if it were tactile.

I hold myself there for a moment before pulling away.

Percy brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. "What do you say we get out of here?"

I grin. "Sounds good."

"I'm gonna go grab a to-go box from the counter," Percy says, standing up and motioning to the front of the restaurant. "I'll be right back."

I watch as Percy disappears behind the throng of tables. There are tons of people in the diner, but I feel like we were in our own little corner of the universe.

While Percy's away, I quickly decide to check my phone. I take a couple seconds to respond to some Happy Birthday texts, and I'm just about to close my phone when I notice that I have one unread message from my dad.

It didn't pop up on my screen because I'd put him on 'do not disturb' earlier. I'd done that because I didn't want him to have power over me, but after everything Percy just said to me, about not letting my past experiences make me think I'm not worth paying attention to, I suddenly realize that by ignoring my dad, I was giving him power. I was going to care about our relationship no matter what, and by putting off coming to terms with reality, I was just adding fuel to that fire. I can't just continue to avoid the situation like I've been doing all week. No, take that back, like I've been doing my whole life. I need to hold him accountable, once and for all, for the good and the bad. For better or for worse. I decide to open my dad's text.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNABETH. YOU MEAN THE WORLD TO ME. I'M SORRY IF I DON'T TELL YOU THAT ENOUGH.

I feel pressure build behind my eyes. Maybe my dad has made mistakes in the past, but this text is proof that he does care, even if he doesn't show it all the time. Family is important, even if it isn't perfect, and in that moment, I decide I need to reach out to him.

From across the restaurant, I see Percy making his way back to our table, a big to-go box in his hands. I quickly shut off my phone and stick it back in my pocket.

Percy's eyebrows draw together when he reaches the table. "You good wise girl?" he asks. He looks beautiful in that moment, casual confidence in perfect balance with genuine concern.

I smile up at him. "Never better."

Percy grins, and begins putting our leftovers in the box.

As we head out, I wrap my arm through his, and we make our way back down the street. When we arrive at the parking structure, we walk for a few moments before getting into the elevator.

I'm about to press the button for level three when Percy quickly grabs my wrist, stopping me.

"I actually wanted to show you something first," he says, and quickly presses the highest button.

I grin. "You're too much."

"And you love it," he retorts.

We stand there together in the elevator for a couple of moments, just holding each other as we float upwards.

When the doors finally open, I feel the breath go out of me.

Percy and I step outside the elevator onto the rooftop of the parking structure. All around us, we can see the skyline of the Los Angeles night. I don't think I've ever seen so many lights in my entire life.

"It's beautiful," I gasp, turning to Percy. "How'd you know it was going to be like this?"

He smirks. "Just a guess. I saw the button in the elevator and figured it was worth a shot. I mean, the parking structure's so tall, how could it not have a view like this?"

He was absolutely right. The view is gorgeous.

In that moment, I realize just how good Percy is for me. My entire life, I've tried to live by rigid plans, always trying to force things to be perfect. I always feel this need to prove myself, in every area of my life. It probably stems from all of the neglect I've faced, but no matter where it comes from, by always planning and needing to be perfect, I've been building barriers for myself, blocking myself off from beautiful, spontaneous moments.

And Percy is spontaneity. He is brilliant and he lives in the moment, always looking for a way to milk the juice from every second of the day. He's the kind of person who sees a tall building and automatically thinks of the beautiful view waiting at the top. He is the key to happiness incarnate, exactly what I need in my life, right now and forever.

"You're incredible," I say, shaking my head.

Percy throws his head back and laughs. "Well I'm certainly glad you think so."

"No I'm serious," I say. "I don't deserve you. You're so generous and empathetic and _good. _And I don't deserve you."

Percy looks at me, a hurricane of emotion taking over his face.

"Annabeth you deserve me and every other thing on this planet," he says. "There isn't a corner of the world you don't deserve."

The breath goes out of me in appreciation, and slowly, I lean forward, bringing my hands up to his hair. I run my fingers through the length of it until my palms rest at the base of his neck.

"I think I like you more and more everyday," I say teasingly, lightening the moment.

Percy smiles. "Good. It probably wouldn't be great for our relationship if you liked me less and less."

That makes me laugh, and as I do, I notice something over Percy's shoulder that catches my eye. Just behind him, a couple of feet from the elevator, is a shopping cart. The sight of it makes me laugh for some reason. I mean, the rooftop is completely empty, except for this one little cart on wheels.

I suddenly think back to the joy Percy's spontaneity brings to my life, and for once, I decide I want to give him that in return.

Grinning, I grab Percy's hand. "Come on."

I turn him around, and when he follows my gaze to the cart, his eyes go wide with mischief. "Oh hell yes," he says.

Quickly, Percy hands me the to-go box, and all of a sudden, I feel him lift me off my feet, swinging me over his shoulder. I burst into laughter, and can't stop giggling as Percy jogs over to the cart. With my free hand, I hold onto him for dear life, and I'm laughing like crazy when he finally lowers me into the basket.

"You're nuts!" I choke out between laughs.

"Good!" he shouts, throwing open his arms. Then Percy walks to the back of the cart and grabs the handle before taking off at a run. I lean my head back over the front of the cart, my laughs piercing the air as I do. Moving at this speed, above me the sky seems to shift like a hurricane. A hurricane of laughter and spontaneity and life.

Percy steps up onto the cart, and together we move at incredible speed, our laughs joining together like the links of a chain.

I face the front of the cart, getting up on my knees and spreading out my arms.

"I'm the king of the world!" I shout.

From behind me, I hear Percy yell, "Hell yeah, you are!" and I love him that much more for it.

Percy pushes the cart in circles, making my blond hair streak like a whirlpool, and when he finally comes to a stop, I'm so dizzy that when I lean in to kiss him, I completely miss his lips, sending us both into a whole new fit of laughter.

"Scooch over," Percy smirks, and I move over, the two of us giggling like crazy as we try to both fit in the cat without making it tip over.

When we finally settle down, I'm sitting in Percy's lap, facing him, my legs wrapped around his hips.

We just sit there, staring at each other and enjoying each other's company as the moments pass beneath us.

"Man, where have you been all my life?" I ask Percy jokingly, my voice barely a whisper. He leans forward, pressing his forehead against mine. "Waiting for you."

Suddenly, Percy reaches behind him, grabbing the to-go box. He pulls it into our laps, and when he opens it, I see that in the middle of our leftover fries sits a blue cupcake, just like the one we stole from the kitchen of the resort when we were at the dinner party last week.

A smile takes over my face. "You didn't have to do that," I say, looking up at him.

"Oh yes I did," Percy remarks, and from his back pocket, he pulls out a single candle and a lighter. He places the candle in the middle of the cupcake, and when he lights it, the flame illuminates his face, giving it a brilliant glow. "Make a wish," he says.

Behind Percy, the lights of the Los Angeles skyline gleam bright, but nothing burns brighter than that candle in this moment.

When I blow it out, I wish for permanence. I wish for the happiness of this night to last forever. I wish for a life of infinite smiles and spontaneity and love.

Percy reaches back into his pocket again. "And I have one more thing," he says, drawing his arm forward.

When Percy opens his hand, he reveals a tiny piece of coral, beautiful and reflective in the dark of the night. "It's from the night we fell asleep together on the beach."

I look up into his eyes, his brilliant, sea green eyes. "That was the moment I knew how I felt about you," I say. "That was one of the most powerful moments of my life."

Percy smiles. "For me too."

I bring my hand up to grasp the coral in Percy's outstretched palm. It's fossilized. A preservation of the beauty of the sea.

Permanence.

"It's beautiful," I say, leaning over to kiss Percy for the millionth time tonight.

When I finally pull away, I shift my direction and lean back into him, letting his arms wrap around me, encompassing me in warmth.

And for the next hour, we sit there together. Linked. Holding each other and eating cupcake and fries in a shopping cart on a parking structure rooftop.

It's one of the best nights of my life.

And I don't let go of the coral in my hand once.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Percy POV

The past two weeks have been some of the best of my life. I've spent every day with Annabeth, whether it's with a big group of friends or just the two of us, I feel like I get to know her a hundred times better every hour we spend together.

When Annabeth laughs, I genuinely feel like my heart stops. I could live off of her laughter, the way a plant lives off of sunlight.

Because Annabeth is sunlight. She is the sun and the moon and the stars, and every brilliant effulgence this universe has to offer.

And now she's my girlfriend. And I couldn't be happier.

It's about four o'clock when Annabeth knocks on the door to my room.

She's been with her mom for most of the day, working on boring internship stuff, and I've missed her like crazy. I hate to be the kind of guy who totally needs to be with his girlfriend every second of the day, but I can't help it. When I'm with her, I feel a sense of completeness I've never felt around anyone else before.

When I open the door, Annabeth stands there, grinning like crazy. She wears casual jeans and a loose, dark tank top, her hair pulled back in a high ponytail.

She looks gorgeous.

"What are you so happy about?" I tease as she steps through the doorway into my room. I suddenly feel self conscious about the messiness around me, but hey, it comes with the package. Annabeth doesn't seem to mind, though.

"I've got news," she says, plopping down on my couch and crossing her legs.

I sit down next to her. "Good news or bad news?"

Annabeth's face scrunches up. "Definitely a mixture of both, though I'm choosing to look at it through an optimistic lens."

"That's my girl."

"Oh shut up," she says swatting my arm playfully. "Anyway, today while I was working, I overheard that the resort board is going to be having a development meeting today."

"So?" I ask, even though I totally know where this is going.

"So…" Annabeth draws out the word, "It's going to be exclusive. Just the top dogs, which means-"

"That they're bound to discuss the stuff you uncovered in the confidential files," I finish.

Annabeth nods her head.

"And let me guess," I say. "You want to listen in on it somehow and see if we can find out anything."

Annabeth nods again. "You know me so well," she teases. I smile at that, but I'm definitely skeptical of the situation.

"I don't know Annabeth," I say. "There's some really serious stuff at play here. Are you sure it's a good idea to be getting ourselves involved with this?"

She grabs my hand and looks into my eyes. "I have to. If something's going on that involves my mom, I have to know." Her tone is serious, and suddenly, I realize just how much investigating this whole scandal means to her. Not only does she have a personal connection, but it's one that could be potentially damning to a family member of hers. And not just any family member. Her mother.

I squeeze her hand. "If this is something you need to do, I'm with you all the way."

Annabeth's face is overcome with an expression of gratefulness I've never seen directed towards me before, and I've got to say, while it feels good to know that there is someone out there who relies so heavily on me, it's also incredibly scary. I have to do right by her.

"Just promise me you won't do anything that puts yourself in danger," I say.

Annabeth looks at me then, almost taken aback, as if she's surprised at my concern for her well being. After a moment, she seems to register how sincere I'm being, how deeply I care for her safety, and she tightens her expression seriously.

"I promise," she says, and squeezes my hand. I quickly lean forward and kiss the top of her head to lighten the mood.

"Then let's do this," I say as I pull back. "What time is the meeting?"

Annabeth's expression brightens. "At the Colosseum in an hour."

I whistle. "We're going to need one hell of a plan."

"Man, it's like you don't even know me at all," Annabeth jokes.

I cock an eyebrow at her. "You mean to tell me you already have a plan?" She smirks at me, her blond ponytail falling forward as she tilts her head.

"Oh, I _always _have a plan."

The next fifteen minutes go by pretty smoothly. Annabeth tells me the plan, and I've got to say, it's smart. Before we leave, I quickly change into darker clothes and give Annabeth a professional, dark green sweater of mine to wear. As soon as she puts it on, the sight of her in my clothes tugs as my heartstrings, and I have to try really hard not to smile.

"You ready?" I ask.

Annabeth grins. "Absolutely. Let's go."

As soon as we step out of the door, I nearly jump out of my shoes when off to my left, Thalia pops her head through the window of her room and shouts, "Annabeth, if you keep wearing Percy's clothes, you'll get rabies!"

I just roll my eyes as Annabeth laughs, saying, "Bye Thalia."

"Come on," I say, setting my skateboard down on the pavement. Annabeth follows my lead, and the next thing you know, we're off. Annabeth holds my hand as we ride, which totally makes the ordeal more difficult, but it's definitely worth it to have the reassurance of her fingers interlaced with mine.

When we finally arrive at the Colosseum, the sun is just starting to set, and dozens of people wrapped in towels are walking through the front doors, finally turning in after a long day of enjoying the pool. Annabeth and I leave out boards by the bike rack and make our way up the steps.

A couple of seconds after we're inside, I turn to her. "You sure you have everything you need?"

Annabeth holds up her small backpack reassuringly. "Yep."

Basically, the plan is to have me wait, hidden and keeping watch from the balcony above the conference room, while Annabeth uses her intern credentials to pose as an assistant taking notes for the meeting. She told me that lot's of people do this, so it should be pretty easy for her to blend in. We'll keep an open phone line between us so that I can hear her if she happens to be out of my line of sight, and Annabeth even brought a tape recorder to record the whole ordeal since our phones will be in use. She's literally thought of a million backup plans for any case scenario, so I have a ton of faith that we'll be able to pull this off.

That doesn't make me any less scared though.

"Let's do this," I say.

Annabeth and I make our way to the elevator, and as soon as the doors close behind us, she leans her head on my shoulder.

"Worried?" I ask.

Annabeth thinks for a moment before responding. That's one of the things I love about her, the fact that she doesn't just blurt things out, that she always thinks carefully about what she wants to say so that she can say just the right thing.

"Yes," Annabeth responds to my question. "But less so about the action, and more so about the outcome."

Slowly, I bring my hand up to her face, using my finger to tilt her chin up so that she looks me straight in the eyes. I immediately get lost in the stormy grey of them, in the hurricane of intelligence and spirit that lies behind her retinas.

"Everything will be alright," I tell her with as much reassurance as I can muster.

Annabeth chuckles, returning her head to its place on my shoulder. "Let's hope you're right."

Just then, the elevator doors chime open, and I take a deep breath before squeezing Annabeth's hand and stepping out into the business hallway.

The hallway is absolutely enormous, rows upon rows of modern looking doorways and windows that lead into offices and mini conference rooms. Fake potted plants line the walls, and there's even a receptionist's desk, thank gods no one sits there though, since it's after normal working hours.

"This way," Annabeth says, and we make our way down the hall, taking a sharp left into one of the many sub-hallways.

When we reach a dark, hidden balcony that overlooks a humongous conference room, Annabeth stops. "This is where we split off," she says. "Just stay here, and stay hidden." She gives me a quick peck on the cheek, and with that, she's off, making her way down a large spiral staircase that leads to a huddle of people, all waiting to be let into the conference room.

Annabeth is out of my line of sight for a while, and I've just started to get a little panicked when all of a sudden, my phone rings. A photo of me kissing the top of Annabeth's head, the one of the two of us in front of the sunset at the Angel's Flight Railway, pops onto my screen, indicating that it's her calling me. When I see the photo, a warm feeling floods through me. I immediately answer the call, though I know better than to say anything.

I hear distinct chatter on the other end of the line, and I'm glad to know that at least this portion of our plan seems to be working out.

Only a million more parts left to go now.

It's a few moments before Annabeth finally re-enters my line of vision. Though it may be irrational to be getting this worked up over it, I can't help it when a flood of relief washes over me at the sight of her.

Annabeth stands tall and official-looking. Her credentials hang around her neck, and she completely blends in with everyone else around her. I suddenly get a flash vision of what Annabeth will look like in the future: beautiful and professional and hard-working. It's as easy to picture as the scene in front of me.

As the people in front of her get admitted one by one, I can tell that she's getting a little bit nervous. Because of her stoic expression, no outsider would be able to tell, but because I know Annabeth so well, little things like the way she rubs her shoulder distractedly, give her nerves away to me.

I want to hold her hand or whisper in her ear or even say something over the phone line to comfort her, to let her know that I'm there, but I know I can't. Anything like that would give her away, and I have a feeling that these people aren't messing around. I don't want to do anything that could put her in danger.

When it's Annabeth's turn, she steps up to the man handling admission, and I feel my stomach clench up in apprehension.

"Name?" I hear the man say over the phone line. He stands with his head down, looking at his iPad as he scrolls through a spreadsheet of names.

"I won't be in the system," Annabeth says with such ease, you'd have no trouble believing her. She flashes him her credentials. "I'm a late entry, an assistant of Athena Chase."

The man's hand freezes on his iPad, and he looks up slowly, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Associates of Ms. Chase don't have authorization to be here."

Just then, my stomach tightens and my breathing speeds up.

Oh my gods.

But Annabeth, brilliant, sharp, ingenious Annabeth Chase, doesn't miss a beat.

She rolls her eyes at him, as if him questioning her has been the most inconvenient part of her day, and she reaches into her bag, pulling from it an official looking file. When she opens the file, she only has to look through it for a moment before pulling out a single piece of paper and holding it up for the man to see.

From where I sit, hiding in the darkness of the balcony, I somehow happen to be sitting in a place where I can just make out the piece of paper Annabeth holds up. It's the same one we've been talking about for weeks, the paper from the confidential file Annabeth found. On it is the symbol of the upside down omega; the logo for the company that made the forgeries of the resort's environmental test results.

The man's eyes go wide. "Jesus," he says, with a slight stutter. "I- I'm so sorry miss, I didn't mean to-"

"No worries," Annabeth cuts him off. She wears an expression that says, _you just inconvenienced me in a huge way, but I'll let it slide because I'm nice. _

It's terrifying and incredibly hot at the same time.

The man begins to open the door for her, "I'll just-" he says, nearly tripping over himself. Annabeth gives him a curt nod as she walks through the door.

I quickly stand up and move down the balcony so that I can see inside the conference room. It's this ginormous space with big, open windows and about fifty people all lumbering about, talking to each other or looking busy working on their devices. Down the length of the room runs the longest conference table I have ever seen, though only a few people sit in chairs. The rest all huddle around the table, holding clipboards and pens like the ones Annabeth has materialized from her bag.

Because the room is so big, it's not difficult for her to quickly duck behind a column, hidden away from everyone else in the room.

"Percy," I hear her voice say into the phone.

"Annabeth you're a genius," I say without even thinking about it. "A fucking genius."

"Tell me something I don't know," Annabeth responds, but the corner of her lip twitches up in amusement, so I can tell she's pleased. "Anyway," she says, "Did you hear what he said? My mom has no part in this!" Her eyes light up as she says it, as though a massive weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

"So you're good?" I ask. "Now that you know? I bet you can get out of there before the meeting starts-"

She cuts me off. "Percy, I need to see this through."

I sigh, shaking my head. "Why did I know you were going to say that?"

"What other chance are we going to get to investigate this?" Annabeth says, her voice quiet but urgent. "You saw how exclusive they were at security. I think this is bigger than either of us originally thought. We'd be crazy to waste this opportunity."

I place my hand on my temple. I know she's right, my head tells me she's right, but my heart, well that's a different story. My heart is telling me I need to get Annabeth out of that conference room as soon as possible.

Before I get a chance to say anything, though, I hear a voice through the phone, "Everyone gather, the meeting is about to commence."

"Percy, I've got to go," Annabeth whispers into the phone, and before I know it, she's stepping out from behind the pillar, making her way into the crowded conference room.

Through the windows, I see that it's completely dark outside now, and I feel as though a shadow has been cast over the entire room.

I crouch down lower behind the rail.

Annabeth takes her spot between two other people in business casual attire, both of whom have their clipboards at the ready.

Annabeth blends in perfectly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you all know why you're here tonight," says a voice from the head of the table, and I do a double take when I see who it is. How did I not recognize him before?

At the head of the table sits my uncle Zeus. He looks like he always does, a plastic smile painted on under his stern gaze. His wife, Hera, sits at his side, wearing the exact same expression.

"Let's just get right into it," Zeus says.

He immediately launches into a long overview of the resort's expansion plans, exactly where, when, and how each phase of the operation will be pulled off. He reads from a screen in front of him, spitting out this legal jargon, and has as a powerpoint presentation flipping through slides being him. I don't understand any of it, but just from looking at Annabeth, I can tell that the gears of her mind are functioning on overdrive right now, working furiously to process every word that comes out of Zeus's mouth.

My legs begin to cramp up like crazy about a half and hour into it, and I have to change my position several times. I have a pang of sympathy for Annabeth and the other people around the table who have been standing the entire time, though none of them seem to really care. They're all enthralled in their note taking, working furiously to capture every word out of Zeus's mouth.

When the session finally concludes, the members around the table who happen to be sitting engage in a brief discussion. About half of them wear suits and business attire, and are the ones answering most of the questions. The ones _asking_ the questions sit on the other half of the table, all of them dressed in very expensive clothing, their skin pale and their posture perfect. I assume that these people are the resort's donors. I even recognize a few of them from the event the other night.

When the discussion dies down, Zeus opens the meeting up to questions, and the people standing around the table immediately shoot their hands up, all eager to please.

I watch Annabeth as she analyzes the room. It's like watching someone try to figure out a puzzle. Her eyes shift from person to person, trying to see where each one of them fits into the situation.

I'm surprised to see that a couple of times, a question will be asked and Zeus will pause for a moment, needing to lean down so that one of his associates can whisper something in his ear before he delivers his answer.

The meeting goes on like that for a little longer, but at a certain point, someone shuts down the powerpoint behind Zeus, and I know that they're finally wrapping up.

Zeus stands up from his chair, placing one hand possessively on his wife's shoulder as he does. "Thank you all for being here tonight," he says. "From now on, sessions will be held privately primarily, so I hope that was an informative session for those of you spectating."

And with that, Zeus turns to discuss something with his associates. Everyone else begins to stand up, making their way back to the door.

I watch Annabeth as she moves through the crowd. She waits patiently as people walk through the doorway, one by one. She doesn't look my way once, and I'm grateful for it. The last thing we need is something as simple as a glance giving us away.

It's a couple of minutes before Annabeth makes it through, and as soon as I see her on the other side of the door, I rush off to meet her by the maintenance elevator where we agreed to meet.

I'm waiting there for her for about a minute, my nerves getting the best of my body, making me fidgit like crazy, when all of a sudden, I see a mop of blond hair round the corner, and relief floods through me like a tidal wave.

Annabeth walks up to me at a steady pace, making her way right into my arms. Our embrace is casual, but behind it there is a certain weight, like our pent up emotions are causing the electrons in our bodies to pinball with energy.

"You good?" I ask into Annabeth's hair, letting the scent of her overtake me.

She wraps her arms tighter around my waist. "Yeah. We have a lot to talk about."

Annabeth begins to pull away and leans against the wall. I follow her lead, and together, we slide down until we sit side by side on the floor.

The entire hallway is deserted. The only light comes from the glow of the elevator button and a faint beam of moonlight that streams in through a distant window. There are still some echoes of voices that make their way up to us from downstairs, but they're scattered, and again I can't believe what we just pulled off.

Annabeth sighs, deep in thought and I take her hand.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," I say, "but I didn't catch onto much illegal planning in that meeting. Everything seemed pretty normal."

I can tell Annabeth's mind is working on overdrive by the way the hurricane behind her stormy eyes shifts with every thought.  
"No, you're absolutely right," she says, and then pauses, turning to me. "Percy, don't you see what this means? Whatever it is we're investigating, it's a whole lot more secluded than either of us originally thought." She shakes her head in disbelief. "I mean, did you see the way Zeus couldn't answer those questions? The way he read off of that tablet word for word? He had no idea what he was talking about. There's someone else organizing everything. Someone else has to be pulling the strings. And whoever it is, they're the ones behind the forgeries, the coverups… Everything."

I take a moment to let that sink in. "So that group in there, they genuinely were just going over the expansion plans?"

"For the most part," Annabeth says. "I think they know that there's some sketchy stuff going on, but they don't know the extent of it." She turns towards me, energy bright behind her eyes. "Take Zeus for example, there's no way he can be sitting on top like that and be _completely _oblivious. He probably knows that some of the codes aren't up to date, etcetera, but he probably _doesn't _know about the degree of it. I mean, forgery is a _felony. _Whatever's going on here, it must be unbelievably extreme for whoever is pulling the strings to go to such lengths to cover it up."

I squeeze her hand. "So what now?"

Annabeth looks at me sheepishly. "Well, I think I might have a plan."

I laugh, shaking my head. "Of course you do."

She smirks. "The way I see it, we have two leads." I pause, thinking for a moment.

"We investigate Zeus through Thalia and Jason," I conclude, but then pause, confusion taking over me. "What's the other one?"

Annabeth grins, her eyes lighting up. "I was standing behind the Augurs tonight."

"The Augurs…" I say. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"The boy we met the other night," Annabeth fills in. "The one who was sitting across from us at the dinner party, his name is Octavian Augur."

"He's their _son_?" I ask, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

Annabeth nods enthusiastically. "And you'll never guess who he goes to school with."

"Who?"

"Reyna and Hazel."

I bring my hand to my mouth. "You're kidding me."

"I don't kid," Annabeth says, smirking.

This whole situation has me completely taken aback. We have two solid leads that could point us towards really discovering something of substance.

But then, I think of the extremity of the situation, of the lengths these people have been willing to go to cover up what they've been doing. Did we really _want_ to discover something?

I squeeze Annabeth's hand. "Wise girl, what we found out tonight just means that by pursuing these leads, we'll be putting ourselves in all the more danger."

She looks at me, determination radiating off of her. "Percy, we have to. If not only for your dad or for my mom, then for Thalia and Jason."

I meet her eyes. They're such a stark contrast from my own in color, but in duende, they're identical. A raging sea, whether it be green or grey.

"You're right," I say. "As always."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Annabeth POV

When my dad and Helen first got married, I was five years old. I hadn't really understood what was going on at the time, but even then, I knew I didn't like Helen. She would do little things like be sweet to me in front of my dad, but ignore me whenever he was out of the room, and even at five years old, you catch onto things like that.

A couple of days before their wedding, one of Helen's earrings had gone missing. It was an expensive diamond that my dad had given her, and to this day, I still remember what it looked like. I had really liked the earrings, and that I would sometimes go and admire them where they sat on the nightstand in my dad's bedroom. I think I was drawn to the earrings because I remembered that my dad had given my mom a pair as well, a different pair of course, but I think that even at that age, I had begun to associate earrings with signs of my dad's affection. I would sit there, looking at the earrings on the nightstand and dream about receiving my own pair.

When Helen had first found that her earring was missing, she had immediately put the blame on me. I'd denied it right away, but Helen didn't believe me. _Frederick, _I remember her saying, _Obviously I don't blame her. She's just a child and doesn't know any better. But she needs to be honest now and take responsibility for her actions. _

That night, my dad had pulled me aside and asked me, gently but firmly, whether or not I had taken the earring. I told him that I hadn't.

_Okay Annabeth, _my dad had looked me deep in the eyes and said. _I believe you._

That night, he spent hours on all fours looking for the earring. He looked everywhere; the bedroom, the kitchen, even the bathrooms. Very late that night, he had found the earring on the floor of their closet. It had probably fallen off while Helen was dressing.

The reason I remember that day so vividly is because I remember with perfect clarity that even as my dad searched every inch of that house, he had never once checked my room. He had believed me when I had said I hadn't taken it.

He had given me the benefit of the doubt. And now I have to do the same for him.

I'm currently on my way to meet my dad at one of the Colosseum's poolside restaurants. After the text he'd sent me on my birthday, despite the level of hurt I'd felt after hearing his conversation with Helen, I knew that I had to make amends. Family's important, and I can't just go through life letting my problems with my family keep me from maintaining my connection to them.

I've kind of been dreading this lunch, worrying that it will be awkward and uncomfortable, and frankly, the only thing pushing me forward is the knowledge that I'm going to be meeting with my friends to hang out at the pool afterwards.

The restaurant my dad wanted to meet at is just a normal poolside burger shack, and I'm incredibly grateful for it. My dad, like me, definitely prefers simple, down to earth food places, though he'd never admit it to Helen.

When I reach the double doors to the restaurant, I'm surprised by how crowded it is. Almost every table is full, bowls of fries and piles of nachos being devoured by families and groups of friends.

I look around and spot my dad sitting out on the patio, his shirt unbuttoned at the top and his sandy hair blowing slightly in the breeze. The patio opens up to the pool, and the only way you can tell where the restaurant seating ends and where the pool tables begin is by the restaurant's ginormous orange umbrellas that block its customers from the sun.

Slowly, I make my way over to my dad. When he spots me, he gives me a smile and a little wave, which I return, but even to me it feels unnatural.

I feel awkward as I sit down across from him. We both know I've been avoiding him, though I don't know if I'll ever have the confidence to tell him why. My dad and I have the kind of relationship where we've never really been able to open up to each other. We tend to leave our feelings inside to fester, letting them grow vile until a certain point when they just get to be too much and we can't stand being around each other anymore.

"How was your birthday?" My dad asks, trying to make conversation.

"Good."

My dad smiles slightly. "Man… I can't believe you're eighteen."

I just nod my head. I know it's crappy for me to be so unaccommodating when he's obviously making an effort, but I'm finding that engaging with him is turning out to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I just keep thinking about all of the terrible stuff I overheard Helen saying about me, and how the whole time, he'd said nothing.

The waiter comes over to take our orders, and I'm not surprised when my dad and I order the exact same thing. Despite our differences, there are some similarities you simply can't deny.

I decide to ease up a little bit.

"So…" my dad starts, awkwardly. "What have you been up to lately? We haven't seen you around much."

I nervously tug at a strand of my hair. "Nothing much. I've been pretty busy at my internship with mom, but mostly I've just been hanging out with friends and stuff."

My dad smiles at that. "It's good that you've been able to make friends here."

I have to bite back a smile. _Friends_ seems like a bit of an understatement when describing the bonds I've made here. I mean, I feel like I've known these people my whole life.

My dad asks a couple of more questions about my social life, and for whatever reason, I really begin loosening up. Having this time with him just makes it all the more apparent how much I miss having that parental role filled in my life. I find myself telling him all about Thalia and the girls and how much fun we've had over the past month or so. I even mention Percy, if only for a brief moment.

When the food finally comes, almost all of the awkwardness that had been there when I first sat down is gone. We have a couple laughs, bonding over how annoying this super loud woman sitting next to us is being. When she finally starts talking to her friends about the trouble she and her husband are having in the bedroom, my dad and I completely lose it, and I have to cover my mouth to keep myself from bursting into laughter.

When we both finally calm down, I decide to ask him a couple of questions in return to be polite. "How are Helen and the boys doing?"

My dad smiles slightly. "They've been keeping themselves busy," he says. "There's just so much to do here, you know? It's quite the place."

I grin. "Tell me about it."

The next half hour goes by like a breeze. We talk about his work and how school's been going for me. We talk about what colleges I'm applying to next year and really interesting research programs.

Another thing that my dad and I have always been able to bond over is our thirst for knowledge. I've always loved school, and I've always been an eager learner. It's something I think I inherit deeply from both of my parents, which is why I find it so hard to understand why my dad would want to be with someone like Helen who has virtually no ambition, no real interest in the world and the wisdoms it has to offer.

By the time the check finally comes, I feel a million times better about my relationship with my dad. He may have his faults, but that's no reason for me to completely block out forming a connection with him.

After my dad has paid, he surprises me when he reaches down by his side and pulls out a small little box with a bow on it.

"Is that for me?" I ask.

He nods. "For your birthday."

I feel like my heart melts in that moment. I think it's been about five years since I've spent a birthday with my dad because my birthday is in July and my mom has custody over the summer. I always get something from him in the mail, but for whatever reason, being here in person with him to recieve something really touches me.

"Thank you," I say, trying to convey with my eyes just how much him getting me something means to me.

My dad smiles, crossing his arms as he leans back in his chair. "Open it."

Slowly, I begin to untie the bow. I pull the ribbon apart carefully, not wanting to damage anything. Once I've completely unwrapped the gift, I'm shocked to find myself holding a small, black jewelry box. Carefully, I lift the lid.

Inside the box is the most beautiful pair of earrings I've ever laid eyes on, these gorgeous silver studs in the shape of owls.

Owls have always had a soft spot in my heart. In addition to my undying Harry Potter obsession, owls are symbolic of wisdom, and the fact that my dad went to the trouble of getting me a gift that would have such a personal connection to me makes my heart ache in appreciation.

I make my way over to the other side of the table and hug my dad. I think he's a little bit surprised by the gesture at first, but after a moment, I feel him lean into me.

"Thank you," I say.

"You're welcome," he whispers into my ear.

In this moment, I couldn't be happier. I finally have my own pair of earrings from my father, just like I used to dream about when I was a little girl. And they're not just any old diamond earrings like the ones he gave to Helen. No, these are special.

As soon as my dad and I pull out of our hug, I put the earrings on, fasting them onto myself like a badge of honor.

"How do they look?" I ask.

My dad smiles teasingly. "Eh, I don't know," he says. "I should probably take them back." I playfully smack his arm in response and begin to pack up my stuff, putting the jewelry box in my bag.

"Listen," my dad says, his voice indicating that he's changing subjects. "Later this week, I was thinking about doing a bit of a barbeque down by the beach. I'm gonna be having a couple of buddies from work coming in, and of course Helen and the boys would be there." He scratches the back of his neck nervously. "I'd love it if you could come. You can even bring a couple of your friends if you want," he says, "It would just mean a lot to me if you could make it."

If he had asked me this an hour ago, I'm pretty sure I would've made up just about any excuse I could to get out of it, but now, I find that I want to say yes. Giving my dad the benefit of the doubt seems to be working out so far, and if I want to maintain any sort of relationship with him, there's gonna need to be some compromise on my part.

"Of course, you don't have to come if you don't want to-" my dad starts, but I cut him off.

"No, I'd love to come," I say. He looks surprised.

"You sure?"

I nod my head. "Definitely.

My dad smiles, shaking his head slightly. "Great."

"Great."

I give my dad one last hug before we say our goodbyes, and just like that, the lunch is over. I survived unscathed, bettered even. I'd gotten to spend quality time with my dad, something I haven't done in ages. I can't stop smiling as I leave the restaurant, and let's just say, I'm in a pretty good mood when I go to meet my friends by the pool.

As soon as I step out from under the cover of the restaurant's bright orange umbrellas, I'm immediately hit by an immense amount of sun. There are dozens of people by the pool, and it's difficult looking for my friends in the enormity of it.

I haven't been to the pool in a while, and I've got to say, I really miss being down here. It's held an incredibly special place in my heart ever since Percy and I had our first kiss, and being here just adds to the happiness that bubbles in my chest.

I make my way through rows and rows of beach chairs, passing oodles of families, all with the parents lounging and drinking while the kids play in the pool. Everyone has their portable speakers out, and I've probably heard about twenty different genres of music when I finally hear Green Day's "Basket Case" blasting, and I know I've found them.

Underneath one of the cabanas, Thalia stands in a strapless bikini top and jean shorts, dancing like a nut job to the song. Luke lays down in a beach chair beside her, laughing and watching her with such adoration in his eyes, it makes my heart ache.

In the lounge chair across from them, Piper sits in Jason's lap, his criss crossed legs acting as a basketchair for her. Piper leans back into him, and the two of them look completely happy, completely content, and I find that I just want to take a photo of this moment and save it forever.

Jason and Piper wave when they see me, motioning for me to come over.

"Hey girlie," Piper says as I approach, and I smile, setting my bag down under the cover of the shade.

"Heya," I respond, and then motioning to Thalia, add, "Is she high right now."

"I don't think so," Luke remarks, though he seems unsure.

Jason laughs, wrapping his arms around Piper as he does. "Yeah, I never really know."

I grin, shaking my head, and then look around. "Hey, is Percy not here yet-" I begin, but I've barely gotten the words out, when all of a sudden, I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist, lifting me off the ground. I let loose a small scream of surprise as Percy throws me over his shoulder, turning us around in a circle.

I'm laughing like crazy as he sets me down, and as soon as my feet touch the floor, I bring my lips up to his.

The kiss is happy and warm, a manifestation of the beautiful day outside. It's short and sweet, like the flash of a smile or the ring of a laugh, and I get bubbles of happiness as I pull away.

"None of you could've warned me?" I ask, turning to my friends with joking disapproval.

"Would've ruined it." Piper remarks.

Thalia just keeps on dancing.

Percy smiles, wrapping his arms around my shoulders from behind. "Anyone up to going in the pool?" he asks.

"Oh hell yeah," Jason says, moving to get up, and Luke nods his head in agreement.

Thalia's song finally ends, and she turns down the music on her phone, finally coming back to earth.

"Oh, hey Annabeth," she says, nodding her head to me.

"Just a wee bit late there," I tell her, jokingly. She just shrugs. "But yeah," I say, turning the conversation back to the pool. "Let's do it."

"I think I'm gonna stay back," Piper says, moving to get off of Jason so that he can get up. "But you kids enjoy yourselves."

"Thalia?" I ask.

"Oh for sure," she says. "You think I'd miss out on an opportunity to go all "waterbender" on Jason?"

Jason fake punches her, and she laughs.

Thalia begins to take off her shorts, and I follow suit, feeling a little bit self conscious as I do. Even if I _am_ wearing a bathing suit underneath, something about peeing your pants off in public will always feel a bit unnatural.

Today I have on a blue, open-backed one piece that has a low v-dip in front. It's not as conservative as I usually wear, but if I'm being completely honest, I wore it because I knew Percy would be seeing me in it, and this particular bathing suit happens to compliment me better than most of my other ones.

As soon as I pull my shirt over my head and throw it over near my bag, I turn to catch Percy staring at me. The moment I make eye contact with him, he quickly turns his head, pretending that he wasn't just starring, but the fact that he was makes me want to smile like crazy.

He's pulled off his shirt too, and even though I've seen him shirtless before, well let's just say it's not something I think I'll be getting used to anytime soon.

I have to look away from him before I start blushing.

"Bye y'all," Piper says, leaning back into her chair.

I lean forward and briefly squeeze her hand. "See you in a little bit." And with that, the rest of us head down to the pool.

The moment we get to the edge, I get an idea that makes me smile. "Hey what's that?" I say, pointing up to the sky.

As soon as Percy looks in the direction of my hand, I leap behind him and push him into the pool. He yells, limbs flailing as he falls sideways into the water, which makes me burst out laughing.

When Percy surfaces, his hair is sticking to his face in about a million different directions, which makes me laugh even harder. He just shakes his head, smiling.

Thalia and I stand side by side, our arms crossed confidently, and she gives me a fist bump.

"Some lifeguard you are-" are start to tease Percy, but then all of a sudden, I feel someone push me from behind, and Thalia and I go flying into the water with a scream.

When I surface, I'm laughing so hard, I can barely stay afloat. Through my wet hair, I watch as Jason and Luke jump in after Thalia and me, both of them wearing smirks the size of Texas on their faces.

Thalia jokingly shakes her head. "I hate you," she says, leaning into Luke's embrace.

He smiles. "Let's make our way over to somewhere we can stand."

It's a couple of seconds before we arrive at a good place, but as soon as we do, we all settle in, just enjoying the sun on our faces and the warm atmosphere. I wrap my arms around Percy's neck and sit piggyback style as we float there.

I know that I weigh virtually nothing under water, but I still feel a little bit of self consciousness in my current position, worried that I'm being too bold or touchy.

Percy doesn't seem to mind it at all though, and he places his hands on top of mine, holding me closer to him, which makes my gut swim with giddiness.

I feel completely content in this moment, as though every inch of my body is smiling. I try to hold onto it with every part of myself, wanting to save this warmth I feel and put it in a jar for safekeeping.

The boys have striked up some sort of conversation about a videogame they all play, and Thalia keeps interjecting with comments like, "Wait, remind me why you didn't just kill him again?" which makes me laugh.

The next half hour or so goes by somewhat uneventfully. We talk about this and that, just generally enjoying each other's company. At a certain point, a volleyball makes it's way over to us, and we start to scramble, setting the ball back and forth to each other over the self-made waves.

Together, we're a super athletic group, so the game's a lot of fun, though I definitely have the others beat skillswise.

"Jesus Annabeth," Jason says after I make a particularly impressive dive to save the ball. "You're a beast at this." That makes me laugh.

"Yeah I've played pretty much my whole life," I say.

"Well so has Thalia," Luke says teasingly, "but she isn't as good."

That earns him a well-deserved smack.

At that point, the game just pretty much turns into one big splashing competition, and let's just say, where Thalia may not have been the dominating player at volleyball, she certainly is at this.

The boys are her primary targets, and frankly they don't stand a chance. Percy tries using me as a shield, lifting me and turning me to block Thalia's advances, which makes me laugh, despite the fact that I'm getting absolutely soaked.

"No fair," Thalia complains. "Human shields are against regulation."

"I don't know about that," Luke jokes. "Wanna give it a try Jason? I doubt we'd look as cute as Percy and Annabeth, but hey, us blonds have to stick together."

"You're absolutely right," Jason says in mock seriousness.

The two of them try to pull it off, they really do, but it's pretty much a complete fail, sending the rest of us into fits of uncontrollable laughter.

When we finally begin to calm down, we're all pretty tired, and we begin to settle back in. I take up my previous position on Percy's back, which scares the shit out of me, but makes him smile.

The rest of the afternoon is spent just talking and laughing and taking in the sunlight. Nothing terribly noteworthy happens until, in an effort to strike up conversation, Thalia turns to me. "How'd that breakfast go with your dad this morning?"

The question completely takes me by surprise. I rarely talk about my family with anyone, but ever since the incident with Helen, Thalia's kind of been my lifeline on the subject. She understands having family issues, and it's been nice having someone to talk to about it with.

Thalia continues. "I mean, I know things weren't exactly great between you ever since-" Then she stops, looking at Percy, not knowing if she should continue, not knowing how much I've disclosed to Percy about my family life.

I'm thankful that she stops herself. I haven't really talked to Percy about anything super personal yet, and frankly, I don't know if I want to. I know it might sound stupid, but I'm honestly embarrassed about all of the stuff Helen said about me, and I really don't know if I'd feel comfortable relaying those words to my boyfriend.

"It went really well," I respond, lightening my tone to cover up any weirdness. "It was nice spending time with him after so long." I feel Percy look at me over his shoulder, and I can tell he feels like something's up, but he doesn't press me, and I'm grateful for it.

"That's good," Thalia says, also lightening her tone, obviously trying to cover up for the weirdness as well. "Anyway, I'm starving," she says. "Anyone want to go back to the cabana and order food?"

"Definitely," Jason says.

"Yeah, I'm starving," Luke adds.

While they're not paying attention, Thalia quickly shoots me an apologetic look and mouths, _sorry! _

I shoot her a smile and wave her off, letting her know it's okay.

As we make our way back to the cabana, Percy and I hang back a little bit, holding hands as we head down the length of the pool.

"Hey, you good?'' he asks," concern clear on his face. I'm not used to seeing such care directed at me, and if I'm being honest, it kind of scares me. I'm worried that I'll mess something up, do something that makes myself unworthy of his affection.

I lean over and kiss his cheek. "I'm all good."

Percy hesitates for a moment, obviously still concerned, before smiling down at me. "Alright wise girl."

He leans down, about to kiss me, but stops when all of a sudden, we hear a commotion break out up ahead.

We're finally back to where we first got in the pool, and when I look I look up, I see a sight that absolutely repulses me.

Under the cabana, Piper stands with her hands up trying to block herself, a look of panic on her face, as Dylan Ventus has his pointer fingers hooked through the loops of her jeans, pulling her towards him. It's barely audible as he says, "Come one beautiful, I promise I'll make it worth your while."

"Stop," Piper protests, trying to unhook his hands from her waist. "Let me go right now."

I feel fury like I've never felt before burn inside me like someone has ignited a fire. Percy moves to get out of the pool, and I'm right behind him, hopping up onto the ledge as fast as I can. Jason, Luke, and Thalia beat us there, though, marching straight up to the scene ahead.

Neither Piper or Dylan see any of us coming, it all happens so fast.

I've never seen Jason as furious as he is now. It's as if someone has completely flipped a switch in him, his demeanor twisting inside out. He runs up and grabs Dylan's shoulder, pulling him off Piper. "She said Let. Go."

Dylan stumbles backwards, and his eyes flash with hatred when he sees Jason, a loathing so intense, you'd think the two of them were sworn enemies.

Piper backs up into the cabana, breathing heavily and hugging herself with her arms. Thalia and I run up to her, putting ourselves between her and the scene in front of us.

For a moment, I think that Dylan is going to kill Jason. His eyes flash like he's about to lunge, but as soon as he takes in the scene around him, Percy and Luke flanking Jason, their eyes burning with an almost equally acute anger, Dylan seems to think better of it.

He steps back, letting out a little laugh as he does. "You guys are completely overreacting," he says, putting his arms up in mock surrender. "We were just having a little bit of fun." He looks at Piper. "Weren't we Pipes?"

Piper looks at him with such disgust, it makes me want to knock his teeth out.

Jason shoves Dylan's shoulder again, forcing Dylan to look at him. "Don't talk to her."

Dylan's eyes narrows his eyes. "Jason Grace." He says the name with such distaste, you'd think that the situation was reversed. Dylan sneers before continuing. "You think you can just order everyone around because your daddy owns this place." He shakes his head distastefully. "Well news flash buddy, there are people here who own your dad."

Jason clenches his fists.

Behind Dylan, the two goons I've seen following him around the resort appear at his sides, giving him a whole new spell of confidence.

"One day, Grace, someone's going to put you in your place. You'll realize that you're not untouchable." Then he looks around at every single one of us, and for some reason, his gaze lands on me. He smirks. "And that goes for all of you." He holds my stare for so long, I feel as though he can see right into my head and read my thoughts. "What goes around comes around."

Involuntarily, I take a step back. Normally, I'd never buy into a threat like that, but I feel a certain truth underlying Dylan's words that makes them downright terrifying. It makes me wonder whether or not he knows something.

"Dylan, just leave," Percy says, obviously trying to bring Dylan's attention away from me.

Dylan's head snaps in his direction. "You know what, Jackson-" he says, his fists clenched, but just then, someone runs up behind him, stopping him with her perfectly manicured hand.

Beside me, Thalia sneers. "And just when I thought this couldn't get any worse."

In front of us, Drew holds Dylan's shoulder, keeping him from stepping any further forward. "Enough," she says.

Dylan turns on her. "Right!" he says. "Because you couldn't possibly want me messing up Jason Grace's _beautiful _face."

"Oh get over yourself," Drew snaps at him. "The only reason you're over here in the first place is because of _that _slut," she says, pointing at Piper.

"Watch it," Jason growls at her, his tone murderous.

Drew smiles slightly and raises her eyebrows at him in mock innocence. "I'm sorry," she says. "We'll just be on our way now." She tugs on Dylan's shoulder. "Come on."

He shrugs Drew off angrily, but turns to follow her nonetheless, shooting one last glare at Jason as he goes.

I catch a snippet of their conversation as their group walks away.

"I'll never understand what you have for blonds," Dylan grumbles angrily. "They're infuriating. Even that Augur guy you've been disappearing into the caves with lately," he continues. "I mean, honestly, what do you _see _in that kid?"

They're now out of range to the point that I can no longer hear them, but with those words alone, I feel like something heavy has enclosed around my chest. Drew is in league with Octavian. And that means-

Just then, Jason comes forward and wraps Piper in his arms. She buries herself into his chest, her hands up to her face.

At the sight of them, my heart contracts for my friend. I've been on the receiving end of some unwanted advances before myself, and frankly, it can be one of the most terrifying things in the world. I rest my hand on Piper's shoulder, rubbing her back lightly.

Percy comes to stand being me, placing his hand on my waist in reassurance. His touch is unbelievably comforting, and I'm thankful for it. I can't help feeling shaken at the whole ordeal, at the way Dylan had stared at me.

_You're not untouchable, _he'd said. _What goes around comes around. _

I can't help feeling that his words had held more depth than he was letting on. And then on top of that, finding out that Drew and Octavian were in league with each other? The whole thing just didn't sit well with me.

I quickly shake my head, trying to put the whole thing out of my mind.

I lace my fingers through Percy's at my side with one hand and brush Piper's hair out of her face with the other.

_Don't worry about that, _I tell myself. _Right now, just be here with your friends. _


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Percy POV

"So they didn't know anything?" Annabeth asks, looking up at me.

I give her hand a slight squeeze as we walk. "Nothing."

She groans, throwing her head back.

Right now Annabeth and I are walking along the edge of the resort's golf course, enjoying the sight of the green as we make our way back to the road. The course is usually packed, but for whatever reason, it seems to be deserted today. The hills roll on in front of us, and usually I wouldn't be looking forward to the walk, but the warmth of Annabeth's hand in mine makes me want to walk the course for eternity. Plus, the walk is finally giving us a chance to talk about the conversation I had with Thalia and Jason last night. I was trying to find out if they know anything about whatever fishy stuff the resort board has been up to, but unfortunately, they knew absolutely nothing.

"I just don't know where we're supposed to go from here," Annabeth says, swinging our interlocked hands anxiously.

I kiss her forehead lightly. "We'll figure it out."

Annabeth smiles up at me and I feel like my heart momentarily contracts in my chest. We've just dropped off Annabeth's step brothers, Bobby and Mathhew, for an evening golf lesson down by the children's putting green, and we're now on our way back to the main part of the resort.

Bobby and Matthew are adorable. Trouble makers, for sure, but adorable. It was the first time I had met Annabeth's family, which is kind of crazy now that I think about it. I'd seen her mom a couple of times here and there, but she'd never introduced me to her dad and her step family. I know she hasn't always had the best relationship with them, so it's made me really happy to see her doing so well with her dad. For Annabeth's birthday, he got her this pair of cute little silver owl earrings, and ever since she got them, I haven't seen her take them off once.

"So, what did your dad mean when he said 'see you tomorrow,'" I ask Annabeth. "Do you two have plans?"

She groans. "Oh, I totally forgot to tell you Percy. Tomorrow night my dad is having this bonfire thing with my stepmom and a couple of work friends, and I told him I'd go." Annabeth bites her lip. "He said I could bring some friends if I wanted, so I was wondering if maybe you'd want to…" she trails off.

I shoot Annabeth a smile and squeeze her hand. "Of course I'll go."

Annabeth grins. "Thanks seaweed br–"

"Under one condition."

Annabeth stops in her tracks, looking hurt. "What–"

I smirk and take her other hand in mine so that we're facing each other. "That you stop calling me your friend," I say. "I should hope that you see me as a little more than that by now. Or have I just been misinterpreting all the hand holding and kissing and–"

"Oh shut up," Annabeth says, rolling her eyes. She leans in to give me a light shove with our clasped hands, but I quickly dodge it, making her laugh. I spin Annabeth around under one of my arms so that her back is against my chest, her arms crossed tightly across her torso. She lets out a surprised laugh and leans back into me, her hands still clasped firmly in mine.

Up in the sky, the sun is just beginning to set, casting the beginnings of a golden glow over the golf course. The entire green is completely empty, just long stretches of hills and sand and water pits that roll over the grass. A little ways away, a golf cart is being silhouetted by the sun, the Olympus Resort logo shining brightly on its side.

I pull Annabeth tighter against me and bring my lips down to her ear. "Actually make it two conditions," I say, smirking.

"Oh yeah?" Annabeth grins, turns her head towards me. We're so close, I can feel her breath on my face. It sends a distracting fluttering feeling into my stomach. "What's the second one?"

"That you and I take that golf cart back down to the resort," I say, lifting our interlocked hands to point to the golf cart a couple feet away.

"Are you nuts?" Annabeth asks with a laugh.

"Definitely."

"Percy we can't take someone else's golf cart." She says, pausing before she adds, "Plus we don't even have the key."

"It's a resort golf cart. They don't use keys. And there's no one around for acres. They definitely just left the cart here in the middle of a game, and frankly, I see it as our civic duty to return it."

Annabeth smiles and leans back into my shoulder, shaking her head. "You're impossible."

"So that's a yes?"

Annabeth raises an eyebrow at me. "Of course that's a yes. Your logic convinced me. And do you really think I'd miss out on a chance to ride a golf cart on an empty course? That _never _happens."

I spin Annabeth back around so that we're facing each other again. "Then let's go," I announce, grinning.

She tugs my arm and we jog off down to the golf cart. We both hop in, and I press the button that starts the ignition.

"I hope you steer this thing better than you steer a shopping cart," Annabeth teases from the passenger side.

"Ha-Ha," I say sarcastically. "Hold on!"

Annabeth lets out a yelp as I take off, sending us flying across the green. "You're crazy!" she shouts, but she's laughing like mad, and because the sound of her laughter is basically like crack to me, I press the pedal even harder.

We zoom past the sand bunkers and water hazards, watching them disappear in streaks behind us. I bring us all the way to the far end of the course before turning back in the other direction. I make the turn so tightly that Annabeth shrieks, "If I die today, Thalia's gonna kill you!"

I laugh, sending us right between two streams. "Thalia wouldn't kill her own cousin." Annabeth gives me a look, her eyebrows raised. "Never mind," I say. "You're right. She totally would."

We enter a wide, open teeing ground, and I do donuts in the grass, making Annabeth laugh like crazy. She holds on tight to the handles and sticks her head out of the cart, letting her hair blow behind her like a golden flag of curls. She looks beautiful, and l can't believe that even after all this time, the sight of her smile still makes my heart contract the way it does.

Mostly, I keep my eyes ahead of me, but in one of my brief glances over at Annabeth, I catch her looking at me, a smile the size of Texas on her face. For a short moment, we lock eyes, and her gaze is steady and so full of happiness and appreciation it makes my chest hurt. The idea that someone could ever look at me like that seems impossible, but there it is. And in that moment, I want to give Annabeth the world.

We go around the green a few more times before finally heading back down to the resort. Thankfully, no one questions us as we pull into the lot where they keep the golf carts, and when we leave it there, I'll admit, I feel a little bit like I've just gotten away with something.

And I love it.

Annabeth and I make our way down the road, holding hands as we head back to the Colosseum.

"Wanna take the beach route?" Annabeth asks, looking over at me.

The beach route is significantly longer than the road path, but I get where she's coming from. This day has been perfect, and I think we both just want to drag it out for as long as possible.

I grin at her. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Annabeth and I make our way down the stretch of road that heads to the beach and start walking along the dunes in a comfortable silence, her head on my shoulder. This stretch of beach is too rocky and narrow for people to sit on, so mostly it's just used as a trail of sorts of runners and joggers. You know, people who voluntarily exercise. I am not one of those people.

Annabeth fiddles with our interlocked fingers as we walk, sending warm shivers down my spine. "I should probably tell the others about tomorrow night, ask if they want to come to the barbecue," she says.

I laugh. "Yeah, Luke will be ecstatic. He's been complaining for months about how the resort's restaurants wouldn't know a good burger if it smacked them in the face."

For a split second, Annabeth tenses beneath me. It's so quick I almost miss it, but I slow us down nonetheless.

"Hey, you good?" I ask, looking at her. We come to a stop, and Annabeth takes a deep breath, forcing a smile.

"You know me too well for either of our goods."

I squeeze her hand. "What's up?"

Annabeth sighs. "It's nothing. I'm probably just imagining things, but for whatever reason, ever since I met Luke, I've gotten this strange feeling. Like I recognize him from somewhere…"

Immediately, my mind flashes back to the day that Annabeth and Luke first met on the pier. I remember how she'd looked at him, almost as if she'd seen him before. It had completely slipped my mind until now. Had this really been bothering her for all this time?

"You think you might know him from somewhere?"

"No," she says. "I mean, how could I? I have no recollection of ever having met him before this summer, and _he's_ certainly never expressed any recognition." She shakes her head and lets out a brief laugh. "I must be going crazy."

I pull her towards me. "You're not crazy." Then, after a moment, I grin. "most of the time."

Annabeth lightly bumps me with her arm, but she's smiling. "Thanks."

"If it's bothering you though, you should just ask him," I say. "At the very least, it'll put your mind to rest."

Annabeth looks at me, pensive, before nodding. "You're right." She grins. "When did you become so wise?"

We begin walking again, and I smirk. "When I started hanging out with you."

Annabeth laughs and pulls closer to me so that our shoulders touch as we walk.

Over the horizon, the sun has sunk low into the sky, its bottom grazing the edge of the sea. There's something beautiful and delicate about it, as though the sun and the sea know they have all the time in the world to melt together, that their eventual consolidation is inevitable, so they're taking their time, enjoying the sweet colors the sunset provides in the meantime.

Annabeth and I walk like that for a while, holding hands as the sun sinks slowly into the ocean. We joke around about funny little nothings, and I steal as many glances her way as I can whenever she's not looking. I try to commit her to memory in that moment, to ingrain in my mind the way the pink sky casts a rosy glare over her cheeks, and how the light wind from the ocean blows the strands of her hair in front of her face.

When we finally reach the stairwell that heads up to the Colosseum, we're about to turn and head up, when all of a sudden, Annabeth grabs my arm.

"Percy!" she whispers.

I stop in my tracks and follow her gaze. Off in the distance, past the beach boundary, a figure makes his way across the rocks, climbing over the jagged boulders rapidly and with sure steps, like he's done it a million times.

When the figure turns his head, his face comes into view, and I gasp. "That's–"

"Octavian," Annabeth finishes. She tightens her grip on my arm. "Percy, remember what Dylan said a couple of days ago?"

I quickly think back to what Dylan had said about Octavian earlier this week after the pool incident, how he'd complained to Drew about her spending time with Octavian.

"He said that Octavian was hanging out in some caves," I conclude, looking at Annabeth. "You think that's where he's going?"

She shrugs. "Only one way to find out."

The two of us make our way past the boundary, sticking close to the wall as we begin to climb the rocks. Luckily we're both wearing jeans and tennis shoes, or this wouldn't be going very well.

The sun has completely sunk behind the horizon by now, leaving only faint blue of twilight, and it's difficult to see where we're stepping. Annabeth climbs above me, and at one point she slips slightly, her foot connecting with my face.

"Ow."

"Sorry!"

As we follow, we make sure to stay hidden behind the rocks so that Octavian doesn't see us, though he's so far ahead, I doubt he'd notice us unless he looked really hard.

Nothing we're doing is terribly dangerous, the steeper rock formations are miles ahead, but I'm definitely starting to get the feeling that we shouldn't be climbing rocks this close to the water this late at night, when we can barely see where we're planting our feet.

In front of me, Annabeth stops abruptly. From where I am, I can't see Octavian, but Annabeth's eyes go wide. "Percy, he's turning into the caves now."

"Let's go then," I say.

Annabeth scrambles up the last stretch of rocks, and I follow her up until we're both standing on a long, thin stretch of beach, arched caves looming to our right. We keep close to the wall as we enter, moving at a steady pace so we blend with the shadows.

"Where is he?" Annabeth whispers, her voice so quiet it's almost indiscernible.

"I don't know. I don't see him anywhere–" I've started to say, when all of a sudden, Annabeth gasps in front of me, stumbling forward slightly. Without even thinking about it, I protectively throw my arms around her, pulling her back.

"What the–" Annabeth remarks.

In front of us, the cave drops off in a massive cliff, overlooking a deep pocket of darkness. I can faintly make out a stretch beach down below, and I just now notice the lethargic drone of waves crashing, echoing slightly off the cave walls.

"You good?" I ask Annabeth, turning her so I can see her face. She looks pale and slightly shocked, but mostly I recognize the look of inquizition being her eyes, her mind desperately working to make sense of the situation.

"Yeah," Annabeth mumbles. "I just–this doesn't make sense logically. The water level should be about where we are now. Not ninety feet below us..."

I look down over the cliff and realize she's right. If we just came from the beach, how could there possibly be waves crashing so far below us?

I glance around, looking for where Octavian might've gone. "Look," I say, tapping Annabeth's shoulder.

She turns her head in the direction of my stare. "A staircase?" she remarks. "But this area is so remote. Why would anyone go through the trouble of building out here?"

"I guess we're about to find out," I say, and begin leading the way over to the staircase. As we get closer, I see that the stairs line the wall of the cliff all the way down to the beach down below. "Jesus."

Annabeth and I make our way down the stairs, careful to avoid creaks and keeping an eye out for Octavian. It feels like forever before we're finally on the ground, and when we get there, Annabeth's eyes go wide. "Percy look."

She points at the waves that roll up onto the sand, marveling at them.

"Uh, yes Annabeth. That's called water."

She gives me a glare. "I mean look at the direction they're coming from. The ocean to the West. These waves are coming from the East, from inside the cave." With a start, I realize that she's right.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that someone's created a tunnel system under these cliffs, one that takes the water in from a different point and directs it to these caves from the opposite direction."

"So wherever the water is coming from–"

"Is where Octavian went," she finishes.

"This is crazy," I mumble as we begin to trail the water.

The waterway kind of reminds me of the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ ride at Disneyland–all long river-like streams flowing through dark, enclosed caves. Along the walls are these thick pipes, gigantic metal cylinders coated in barnacles that we follow all the way down the water. We've walked for a couple of minutes before Annabeth hisses, "There he is."

Up ahead, standing in the middle of a large enclosure is Octavian. The enclosure is filled with catwalks and tons of equipment, all elevated far above the water. The catwalks are also lined with dozens of shipping boxes, all of them sealed tight and stacked high.

We crouch down behind a rock formation in the shadows, watching Octavian as he paces around the enclosure, a clipboard in hand.

"What's he doing?" I ask, keeping my voice low.

Annabeth narrows her eyes. "I'm guessing he's taking inventory of some sort. Of whatever's in those crates up there."

"Why are they so high up? Wouldn't it be easier to store them down by the water for transportation reasons?"

Annabeth thinks for a moment. "The tide," she says. "They must have to keep it so high so that it doesn't get drenched when the tide is high." Her eyes go wide. "And that must be why everything is made out of stainless steel. It doesn't rust. The staircase, these catwalks, all of these pipes–they're all made out of stainless steel to prevent water damage."

I look at her. "You're a genius, you know that?" Annabeth grins, the darkness of the cave casting shadows over her grey eyes.

"I know."

We turn back to watch Octavian as he scales the catwalk, reading the labels on the boxes and checking off stuff on his clipboard.

"This is crazy," I say. "They created an entire tunnel system under the caves so that they could transport in whatever is in those boxes discreetly?"

Annabeth runs her fingers along one of the thick pipes that lines the walls. "We just have to find out what it is they're keeping in those boxes."

"Do we open one of them?" I ask.

Annabeth shakes her head. "Too risky. They would know someone is snooping around in their business if they see that one of the seals is broken."

"So what should we do?"

Annabeth thinks for a moment before turning to me, her eyes wide. "The inventory list. All we have to do is look at the list."

I grin. "Okay, let's do this."

We wait for what feels like hours for Octavian to leave. In reality, it's probably like twenty minutes, but sitting and waiting is certainly not one of my strengths with ADHD and all, so it feels like forever.

When he's finally done, Annabeth and I watch as he makes one last walk down the catwalk, leaving his clipboard on a desk that sits elevated on the platform, before he heads past us and back up the stairs where we came from.

Annaebth and I wait a couple more minutes just to make sure that he's really gone before we come out and make our way up to the desk where Octavian left the inventory list.

I run my hands along the thick pipes that line the walls as we walk, amazed at how they seem to go on forever. Some of the pipes are no bigger than my fist, but others are as wide as cars, and something about their enormity sets me off.

When we reach the desk, Annabeth jogs up, taking the inventory list in her hands like she's handling a lottery ticket. After a few seconds, however, her face contorts into confusion.

"What? What is it?" I ask.

"I–" Annabeth stammers. "I don't understand. These are all completely normal, legal things to be shipping in."

I look over her shoulder, and sure enough, everything on the list seems absolutely arbitrary to me. Just a bunch of construction equipment and materials–probably for the resort expansion.

"Maybe we were wrong," Annabeth says lamely. "Maybe we're just trying to find something wrong when in reality, everything is perfectly normal."

After a moment, I shake my head. "No," I say, placing my hand on hers. "Maybe this isn't what we were looking for, but nothing about this situation is normal."

Annabeth looks at me and smiles slightly. I brush a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You're right," she remarks. "But we should probably be heading back. It's starting to get late."

"I couldn't agree more," I say, taking her hand. Together, we walk back down the catwalk and make our way back through the tunnels, heading for the stairs. Again, I trail my hands along the pipes as we walk, astounded by their enormity.

Walking in this direction is different, and I start to notice different things, like how the pipes get lower and lower the further we walk, and by the time we're by the original staircase that leads back up to the main beach, the pipes are almost touching the floor. And they don't seem to stop. They head right through the rock, out in the direction of the ocean.

Beside me, Annabeth groans. "I just don't get why they went to all that trouble to build this place to hide what they're transporting in, when what they're transporting in is perfectly normal."

I narrow my eyes, looking forward at the big cliff that looms over us. Dozens of pipes lead into the side of the rock, solid pipes of all different sizes, all heading out towards the ocean.

I stop in my tracks. "Annabeth," I say, realization taking over me.

Annabeth turns towards me, her hand already on the rail of the staircase. "Yeah?"

"What if they aren't trying to hide what's coming in?" I ask.

She cocks her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"What if," I say, turning my heads towards the pipes, "they're trying to hide what's going _out_."

Annabeth follows my gaze, and her eyes go wide. "Holy shit."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Annabeth POV

At this point, I'm pretty much convinced I ruin everything. I'm like the ticking bomb of teenage girls–a lit fuse just waiting to explode.

When I woke up this morning, I noticed that one of my earrings was missing. I searched everywhere: outside my room, under my pillow, under the sheets. I even searched through my dirty clothes. Nothing.

After I got over the initial shock that I had lost it, and the acceptance that I probably wouldn't find it, I was reminded a lot of that time when Helen lost her earring and threw a fit––of how envious I'd been of her and that stupid earring. The memory just made me even more aware of my loss. My dad had gotten me one of the most beautiful pairs of earrings I'd ever seen, just as he had done with my mother when they were together, and now I'd gone and lost one of them.

I don't know why these things even surprise me anymore. My life has just been a series of things floating in and out, appearing and disappearing. It's just a matter of time before I lose everything that means something to me.

Ughhh.

Right now Percy and I are on our way to my dad's bonfire event down by the beach, and I've got to admit, I'm super excited. It makes things a million times better to know that Percy will be there with me every minute, and that our friends will be there as well.

Beside me, Percy looks radiant, his eyes glowing green in the evening sunlight. As he walks, he holds my hand with one hand and holds his phone up to his ear with the other.

"Mutan whats?" Percy dumbly says into the phone, which makes me laugh.

Percy is currently on the phone with his best friend Grover from back in New York. Percy's told me all about Grover––from his girlfriend Juniper, to his undying love for some instrument called the reed pipes, to the fact that he wants to be an environmental science major in college. When I heard that, I thought that Grover would be the perfect person to get some advice from (regarding our current situation with the resort's secret pipelines to the ocean), so Percy and I decided to give him a call before we got to the bonfire.

"Organ whats?" Percy asks again. "You know what Grover, I'm just gonna put you on speakerphone. I feel like Annabeth will have a better chance of understanding you than I will." Percy pulls the phone away from his ear and presses the speakerphone button.

"Hi Grover!" I say.

"Annabeth?" Grover asks. "Oh my gods, it's so good to finally meet you!" He pauses. "Over the phone that is… Percy will not shut up about you! Considering how much he praises you, you'd think you were a plate of Sally's famous blue chocolate chip cookies!"

"Grover!" Percy interjects, his eyes wide, obviously mortified.

I laugh. "Man, that must really be a compliment," I say. "I hear Sally's cookies are to die for."

"Oh trust me they are," Grover moans. "Anyway, I was just giving Percy the rundown of all the things the resort might want to cover up dumping into the ocean. It's super common for big corporations to get lazy financially and cheat out of disposing their waste properly, so oftentimes it just ends up in the water."

"But even if they don't care about the environment, aren't they concerned about the people around here?" I ask him. "I mean, we literally go swimming in the water here every day."

"The pipes would go out really far," Grover explains. "They would go for miles and miles into the ocean until they reach far enough that the contamination wouldn't reach the resort at all."

"Jesus." I say.

"Yeah," Grover says. "Unfortunately, it's not uncommon, but that doesn't make it any less harmful to marine life."

Beside me, Percy's face is angry, and it warms my heart to know that he cares about this that much.

"So what substances do you think they might be dumping into the water?" I ask.

"It really could be anything," Grover says. "There's a list a mile long of substances that are illegal to dump into the ocean. But Percy was telling me that the resort is undergoing some construction, so that probably means it's one of the more common ones––oil, organohalogen compounds, mercury, cadmium, mutagens, or teratogens. Really it could be anything though."

I shake my head. "How could anyone do something like that…"

Percy gives my hand a squeeze. "It doesn't really matter what it is though," Percy says. "All of those things are super harmful to the environment."

"Yeah…" Grover trails off. "It's a really big crime; if they're caught, it would mean ridiculous jail time for everyone involved." There's a pause on the other end of the line. "Just promise me you guys will be careful. People who have that much to lose can be dangerous––I'm sure that they're going to incredible lengths to cover up what they're doing. Just––" He pauses again. "Don't try to take this on yourselves."

Percy and I look at eachother. From the expression on his face, I can tell that Grover's ominous statement freaked him out just as much as it did me.

"We won't," Percy says into the phone. "Thanks G-man."

"Yeah of course," Grover says. "I do have to go though. Talk to you soon?"

"For sure," Percy says, the grin returning to his face.

"It was nice talking to you, Annabeth!" Grover says. His tone is so sweet, I can't help but smile.

"You too!" I say. "I hope I get to meet you in person someday."

Grover laughs on the other end. "Yeah that'd be great. Stay safe you two."

Percy chuckles, shaking his head. "Bye man." He hangs up the phone and slips it back into his pocket.

I lean into Percy, resting my head on his shoulder, and a beautiful moment of silence passes between us as we walk. The sun warms my face and his body heat warms the side of my cheek in a way that makes me want to freeze time and stay this way forever.

"It's time to bring your dad into this," I say, nuzzling in closer.

Percy kisses the top of my head lightly. "I know," he says, and then laughs. "Whatever _this _is."

We walk like that for a couple more minutes before we finally reach the stairs that lead down to the beach. The moment we reach the sand, Percy and I both slip off our flip flops and carry them as we walk, making our way past all of the other groups of bonfire-goers as we do. There are dozens of people out, all laughing and barbecuing as the sun starts to set up above.

It's not long before I spot my dad off in the distance. He stands with his arm around Helen, talking to a slightly older white couple. Around their bonfire, about 20 other people stand around, holding wine glasses and talking to each other. Everyone looks so professional, their postures giving them away as incredibly educated, refined people. People like my dad. I stop in my tracks, suddenly nervous.

Beside me, Percy uses his free hand to cup my cheek and turn my face towards his. His eyes are intense––this sturdy, ever constant, green.

"You have nothing to worry about," he says. "You'll blow them all away. Without a doubt."

I love how he knows exactly what was going through my head––how he knows me well enough to know exactly how I'm feeling right now.

Slowly, I lean up and place a kiss on his lips. It's not long, but it's passionate––me trying to express my thankfulness for him and his presence in my life.

When I pull away, Percy places his forehead against mine. "Let's get in there, okay?" I nod my head and smile.

We make our way over to the bonfire, and the moment my dad sees us, his face lights up. I feel my heart contract momentarily.

"Annabeth!" he says happily.

Percy and I join their circle.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stratworth," my dad says, addressing the older white couple. "This is my brilliant daughter Annabeth and her boyfriend Percy." Percy and I shake hands with the Stratworths.

"Well aren't you the handsomest couple I ever saw," Mrs. Stratworth says, making me blush. "Why, you're absolutely gorgeous dear!"

Beside me, Percy smirks.

"And smart too, from what I hear," Mr. Stratworth adds, praisingly.

My dad grins from ear to ear. "Annabeth is the top of her class," he states. The pride in his voice melts my heart. I don't think I've ever heard him speak of me this way. I'm surprised he even knew about me being the top in my class, and the fact that he does makes me blush all over again. Percy squeezes my hand.

My dad continues to brag about my accomplishments, and all the while, I can't help smiling. The Stratworths are incredibly nice, and we wind up talking about a number of things, from books, to colleges, to the resort. Percy is super charming, and the Stratworths are really impressed that he has a job.

"It's never too early to learn the importance of hard work," Mr. Stratworth says approvingly.

"I couldn't agree more," my dad says.

The way that he's talking about me makes me incredibly hopeful about our future together. In the past we haven't gotten along because he's never been around, but this summer he's really been making an effort to get to know me. We've been getting along better than we ever have in my life, and it gives me so much hope for what this upcoming school year will be like. For as long as I could remember, I couldn't wait to leave and go to college, but now I find myself looking forward to my senior year. If my dad's and my relationship continues like it has been, this school year could be the best yet. My dad grins at me over Mrs. Stratworth's shoulder, continuing to talk about the work I've done in my internship.

All the while, Helen doesn't say a word. She just stands there like a statue, a pleasant smile plastered to her face so that no one can actually see how much I'm sure it must be paining her to see my dad bragging about me the way he is. After a couple of minutes, she politely excuses herself to go and speak to some of her own friends, and I don't mind at all. I'm happy to be rid of her.

After we're done talking to the Stratworths, my dad introduces us to everyone else, eagerly making the rounds with Percy and me. More and more people continue to arrive, and pretty soon it's getting dark.

Usually I hate small talk, but I find that I'm really enjoying myself tonight. Everyone here may be upper class and poised, but they're not snobs like a lot of the people at the resort are. They're all incredibly educated, and every conversation I have is interesting. I don't come away feeling dissatisfied once. Most of these people have really seen the world, and I'm eager to hear about every place. I want to study abroad for a while when I'm in college, and hearing everyone talk about the places they've been to is really inspiring for me.

The whole time, Percy doesn't let go of my hand once––except to shake other peoples' hands, of course. He stays by my side the whole time, eagerly contributing to each conversation and cracking jokes that make everyone laugh with delight. I know that we're just in high school, but in this moment, it's easy for me to picture a possible future together. A future of meeting people together, hands clasped. The thought fills me with joy, and every time I look at him, I can't help but be reminded of it.

The sun has just dipped under the horizon when our friends arrive. They head over to Percy and me with grins on their faces. Jason and Piper were busy tonight, but Thalia and Luke are here, and Percy and I excuse ourselves from the group we're currently talking to to go and greet them.

"Oh thank gods," Thalia says when she sees us. "I haven't seen you in forever Annabeth!"

"Thalia we saw each other yesterday," I say with a laugh as she pulls me into a hug.

"Exactly! It's been over twenty four hours. I need my fix."

Percy cocks an eyebrow. "And me?" he asks, hopefully.

Thalia shoots him a look. "I've seen enough of you to last a lifetime." Percy pouts, making the rest of us laugh. "Though you do make a mean burger," Thalia continues, and grabs his forearm. "Come one, I'm starving."

She begins to pull Percy, leading us in the direction of one of the barbecues, but just as I'm about to follow, I find myself standing in place instead.

Thalia turns around. "Well aren't you coming?" she asks.

Briefly, I make eye contact with Percy, and I can tell he understands what I'm thinking.

"Actually," I say, "I think I need to talk to Luke for a minute, so if he doesn't mind, you two go ahead and we'll just catch up with you." I look at Luke. The whiteness of the faint scar that runs down the side of his face shines briefly in the moonlight. He seems caught off guard, but not surprised, which makes me curious.

Thalia looks skeptical. "Alright…" she says.

"Come on," Percy chides, and the two of them head in the direction of the barbecue, leaving Luke and me behind. I suddenly realize that I've never been alone with Luke before. He and I have always had a group of people around us, so I feel unexpectedly awkward now that it's just the two of us.

"You're probably wondering what I could possibly have to talk to you about," I start awkwardly.

Luke sighs. "No, I actually have a pretty good idea, believe it or not." He motions to an empty sitting log that's a little bit away from everyone else. "We should probably sit down."

He and I head over to the log and take a seat. Luke clasps his hands nervously, and I can tell he's uncomfortable, which is a strange look for him. He always appears to be so confident, and it surprises me now to see him like this. He briefly runs a hand through his close-cropped blond hair before turning to me and shooting me a brief grin. "Shoot away."

I sigh, preparing myself.

"This is probably going to sound crazy," I preface, "but for the longest time, I've gotten this weird feeling––like you were someone familiar?" I laugh nervously, and put my head in my hands. "Gah this is so weird to ask."

Luke looks at me calmly. "Go on," he says lightly.

I stare into his calm, blue eyes. "Do we… know each other from somewhere?"

Luke nods his head knowingly as if to say, _Yes, I'm afraid you would reach that conclusion. _He sighs.

"Annabeth, did Thalia ever tell you where I got my scar?" The rocks behind us cast shadows over his face, but the long, thin white scar that runs down the right side of his face stands out more than ever. Of course I'd wondered about it before, but I'd never felt it was my place to ask.

I shake my head.

Luke nods, sighing. "When I was little, my dad wasn't always around. He left my mom and me when I was incredibly young––just a baby. For years it was just my mom and me. I mean, sure my dad would stop in every once in a millenia, but for the most part, it was just my mom and me, day after day, for years." Luke twiddles his thumbs as he continues talking.

"One day, I started to notice a change in my mom. She would throw these tantrums, or go through these chilling phases where she would become incredibly sweet, but severely deluded. She would go on these tangents, talking about how "when my dad came home," we would do this or that, and about how we should set out an extra plate at dinner for "when my dad came home."

Luke grimaces, looking pained.

"You don't have to tell me this if you don't want to," I say. "Really it's fine if––"

"No, I want to," Luke says, taking a deep breath. "My mom was becoming more and more deluded every day. I was too young to understand what was happening, that she was becoming increasingly mentally ill. One day, she lost it. She threw this major tantrum, and, in the process…" he motions to his scar, trailing off.

"Anyway, one of our neighbors heard the commotion one day and called the police. It didn't take them long to realize that my mom was no longer in her right mind. She was hospitalized, and I was sent to live with my dad. Surprisingly, he took me in, but by then it was too late. The damage had already been done. I was scarred in more ways than one. I would lash out at kids in school violently, the way my mom did to me." He shakes his head. "I didn't know any better. It was pretty messed up."

I frown, wanting to reach out and touch his arm, but not knowing if it would be welcome.

"Anyway," Luke continues, "It wasn't long before I was put into this facility for kids with… issues. I mean, don't get me wrong, I definitely needed to be in a place like that, but spending your earliest years of childhood in a correctional facility is terrible––one of the worst ways to grow up." He looks at me, sadly. "Is none of this ringing a bell?"

I shake my head slowly, but as I do, I feel something begin to stir deep inside me, an upheaval of memories that lay buried somewhere deep.

"I––" I start, beginning to say something, but all of a sudden, I'm interrupted by the sound of someone shouting my name distantly.

"Annabeth!" the voice calls. I turn my head to see who it is.

A little ways away, I see Hazel making her way over to us, her curly hair bouncing as she walks. She's holding hands with a guy I've never seen before, a really tall, buff, asian guy, and they look happy as they make their way over to where Luke and I are sitting.

I turn to Luke. He's watching me closely, and I get the feeling he knows I'm starting to remember whatever it is he's insinuating.

"Can we finish this later?" I ask apologetically.

Luke nods his head. "Of course." Together, we stand up and make our way over to Hazel and the guy she's with. Percy and Thalia stride up as well at this point, both of them with plates of food in their hands.

I give Hazel a quick hug.

"Guys," Hazel says as she pulls away. "This is Frank. He's visiting for the weekend."

"Oh my gods, you're Frank!" Thalia says. "Hazel made you out to be this sweet, nerdy, loving boyfriend, but holy shit! You could be on the cover of Sports Illustrated!"

Frank blushes like crazy as Luke elbows Thalia in the ribs. "Nice one," he chastises.

"What!" Thalia says defensively. "It's true! What do you play?" she asks Frank. "Football? Rugby?"

Frank blushes again. "I do archery, actually."

Thalia laughs. "Ha! That's spectacular." She then proceeds to poke one of his biceps. "Though I don't understand just how shooting arrows can lead to guns like _that_."

"Oh my gods, Thalia!" I say, but Frank is laughing now. Hazel just looks mortified.

"You know what?" Luke says. "I think Thalia and I are going to go practice our manners. Excuse us." He takes hold of Thalia's wrist and begins walking her away from the group as she protests.

"Excuse me!" Thalia says. "I know manners." She then calls back over her shoulder, "It was nice meeting you Frank!" She turns back to Luke and hisses. "See. I know manners." He just shakes his head as they walk off.

"Sorry about her," Percy says to Frank. "My cousin's always struggled with this little thing called basic edicate."

Frank laughs. "No, she's funny." He turns to me. "Thanks for having us by the way."

"Of course!" I say. "We've been dying to meet you for ages. Hazel talks about you all the time."

"Annabeth!" Hazel whines, but she's smiling. Frank kisses the top of her forehead, and the two of them are so cute, I can't help but grin.

"Percy here has already gotten himself a plate," I say, "but I'm still starving if you guys want to get something?"

"Oh for sure," Hazel says.

"Yeah, I could eat," Frank adds.

Percy grins. "And I could have seconds." I look down at his plate.

"Percy how on earth did you already finish your burger?" I ask. "You've been back for like two minutes."

He smirks and pats his––somehow still flat––stomach. "Never underestimate the metabolism of a teenage boy."

Frank laughs. "Amen to that."

Hazel and I roll our eyes, and the four of us make our way over to the barbeque. Once we're all stocked up, we head over to the sitting area around the bonfire, where we talk for a couple of minutes about this and that. Frank and Hazel tell Percy and me all about their school in San Francisco, and I make plans to meet up with them during the school year. It makes me happy to know that, even though I'll have to leave the rest of the friends I've made at the resort once the summer is over, at least I'll have them to hang out with during the school year.

A couple of minutes go by before Percy brings up the thing that's been on my mind the whole conversation, but that I've been too nervous to bring up myself. I haven't seen Hazel in a couple of days, so I haven't had a chance to ask her about it yet.

"So," Percy starts casually. "You guys go to school with Octavian Augur?"

Frank chokes on his water. "You know Octavian?"

"He has a timeshare here," Hazel fills him in.

Frank sneers. "Of course he does."

"Could you tell us a little bit about him?" I ask. Hazel nods glumly.

"He comes from big money. Old money. I mean, our school is full of kids who come from big money, but the Augurs are like the Rockefellers."

"And he never fails to remind people," Frank says.

Percy nods in agreement. "Yeah, Annabeth and I had the pleasure of meeting him at an event a little while ago. He definitely had no problem letting us know about his wealth."

Hazel snorts. "Honestly, wealth is an understatement."

I frown. "But other than him being a complete dick, he's normal?"

Frank laughs. "I mean, I wouldn't call him normal by any means, but yeah, I'd say his snobbery is probably the most notable thing about him."

"Why?" Hazel asks, curiously. I make eye contact with Percy.

"Oh, no reason," I lie. "I just wanted to know if there's anything else we should be aware of if we run into him at another event."

Percy groans. "Oh please don't jinx it. I don't know how much more of that guy I can handle."

Frank and Hazel laugh, and with that, we stop talking about Octavian. Thalia and Luke join back up with us a couple of minutes later, and for the next hour or so, we have a great time just hanging out. It's gotten unnaturally cold out, so Percy gives me his sweatshirt to wear, which completely melts me, no pun intended.

The stars shine bright up ahead, and as it gets later and later, the beach begins to clear out. My dad's group of work friends grows smaller and smaller until only a few of them remain, and I find myself falling into the dreamlike state that only seems to come about late at night.

"I think we're going to head out," Hazel says after a while, gripping Frank's hand as she stands. "Thanks a ton for inviting us Annabeth."

Frank grins. "Yeah, tell your dad those burgers were great."

I laugh. "Will do."

I watch them as they leave, smiling at what an adorable couple they are. It makes me want to nuzzle in closer to Percy, to feel his presence next to me, so I do. Thalia and Luke sit in the sand a couple of feet away, their backs against a different log, so I feel as though Percy and I are almost in our own little bubble. I lean in closer to Percy, wanting his presence to wrap me up completely. He brings his lips up to my ear, but then, just as he's about to make contact with me, he suddenly stops.

"Annabeth, where are your earrings?"

I frown. "I think I lost one of them," I admit sadly.

I see a flash of sympathy shoot across Percy's face, and he slowly pulls my head into the crook of his neck comfortingly. To anyone else, it might come across as vain or stupid that I'm this upset about losing an earring, but Percy knows me well enough to know what they meant to me.

"I just can't help but think that everything I love will disappear at some point, you know?" I whisper. "I mean, how am I supposed to hold onto everything I really love if I can't even hold onto a stupid earring…"

Percy runs his hand down my cheek in soothing lines. "It wasn't stupid Annabeth. You know that." Then he pulls back to look at me, slowly grazing my eyes with his own. His expression is loving, solid. "And the things that really deserve your love… you won't have to hold onto them. They'll just be there for you, loving you and supporting you and standing by you just as equally."

I feel pressure behind my eyes. His words are like cement, filling the empty voids in my heart that have been left by those before him. The words hang between us; _I love you. _I know we both feel it. I can see it in his eyes, as I'm sure he can see it in mine. But I don't think either of us are quite ready to say them yet, to let that hardening cement cover the entirety of our hearts. And that's okay. Because I know that when we _are _ready, we'll mean it with every fiber of our being. Because at that point, we'll know _every_ inch of each other. We'll be able to say with certainty that we love each other, because we'll know every piece of each other. I brush my hand across Percy's face, and he closes his eyes, leaning into me.

"It's getting late," he whispers.

"Yeah," I say, smiling. I slowly bring my hand to my side. "Let's get Luke and Thalia. I still have to finish having that conversation with Luke."

Percy nods knowingly, and together we stand and make our way over to Thalia and Luke. They sit with their backs against one of the sitting logs, her leaning her head against his shoulder. I slide in right next to her, and Percy slides in right next to me. The log is curved at a bit of an angle, so we can all see each other clearly.

A couple of moments of beautiful silence pass before I sit up.

"Luke, can you tell me the rest of what you were telling me earlier?" I ask.

The moonlight makes his sandy hair gleam silver as he creases his eyebrows. "Are you sure you want to know Annabeth?" he asks. "I'm not entirely sure it's something you'll be happy to hear."

I frown. What could he possibly have to tell me about my past that I wouldn't be happy to hear? Did I really want to hear it?

But whatever it was that he'd been on the cusp of telling earlier had awakened something inside of me––some faint outline of a memory I hadn't even known I'd possessed. And I have to know what that is, whether I'm going to like it or not.

"I'm sure," I say, my voice sturdy, and Luke nods. The fire in front of us casts shadows over all of our faces. Thalia looks sad, and I'm sure Luke filled her in on what I asked him earlier. Percy squeezes my hand reassuringly.

"Do you want me to tell you here?" Luke asks. "Or do you want to go somewhere else?"

I grab Thalia's hand with my free one so that I'm joined with both her and Percy. "Here."

Luke nods before taking a breath. "You were in that facility for kids with… issues… as well, Annabeth." Somehow, I had suspected this.

"Why don't I remember it at all? I ask.

"You were _super _young," Luke says. "Barely older than a toddler, I think. I mean you're what, two years younger than me? And even I was just a tiny kid at the time…" I nod, understandingly.

"It was a couple of months before Helen married your dad," Luke continues. "And you were only there for a couple of weeks. I barely remember it, but that day at the pier, I'd gotten this really strange feeling that I'd recognized you, so I asked my dad about you. He filled me in on everything, told me that I probably remembered you from that facility all those years ago… That we'd been friends. He only really remembered you because he and your mom know each other from the resort board. And because… well… Your case had been unique. "

I look at Luke, my gaze steady. "Why was I there?" I ask. "There was nothing wrong with me as a child."

"No, there wasn't," Luke agrees.

"Then why––"

"Your stepmom had put you there." Luke says. "She had admitted you under false pretenses––said that you had manic episodes and hallucinations, that you would wake her up screaming in the night."

I feel as though I'm going to throw up. My breathing grows rapid.

"The facility kept you for weeks," Luke says, "but when they saw no sign of anything, they called your mom, asking if she had noticed the signs as well. Your mom flipped out when she found out… She even took your dad to court for full custody."

"She what?" I ask, my shock plain in my voice. It sounds raw, as though someone has rubbed the edges of my throat with sandpaper.

My parents had never been married. I'd never been ashamed of it necessarily, but it's certainly not something I'd ever gone around telling people. Because they'd never been married, custody had always been a weird dynamic, but I'd always just assumed that my dad had wound up primary custody of me because my mom cared more about work.

"She… fought for me?"

Luke looks at me sadly. "Tooth and nail. But this was before she became successful, Annabeth. She was young. She had no money. She hadn't even been educated yet. They court didn't think she had the capability to be a full time mother, so they decided that you would live with your father primarily, even after everything that had gone down with your stepmom."

"Wait, you mean my father knew about this?" My voice is loud, even to my own ears, but I don't care. I feel as though someone has punched me in the stomach. "You mean my dad _stayed_ with Helen even after what she did to me? After she… after she put me _there?" _

I never cry in front of other people, but suddenly, I feel tears spring to my eyes. They begin to run down my face, and I rip my hands from Percy's and Thalia's grips to wipe them away. It makes me embarrassed, and I try desperately to pull myself together.

But I can't. Because in that moment, something inside me shatters. Some deluded notion I'd been clinging onto my whole life falls away, leaving the truth plain as day for me to see.

And how can you pull something together after it shatters?

"I'm so sorry Annabeth," Luke says, but I barely hear him.

"He knew…" I mumble, incoherently.

My ears are ringing.

My dad knew what Helen had done, and he hadn't cared. He'd chosen to be with her after seeing her true colors. And that's when it hits me. My dad had always seen Helen's true colors––he just hadn't cared.

I'd always accredited my dad's choosing to be with her to the fact that he didn't know who she really was, but that wasn't true. He'd always known. Even before they were married, he'd known what kind of a monster she was to me. And he still chose to be with her.

I try to get air into my lungs, but I can't breath. It's like someone has blocked my airways.

Why is clarity so blinding?

My whole life, I've been living under this delusion that my dad was just ignorant to everything with my stepmom. But now I see that that's just what I wanted to believe. I'd been living this deluded version of my life because I hadn't wanted to face the truth.

I quickly get to my feet, gasping for air. Hot tears continue to run down my face, but I don't even try to wipe them away anymore. I have one thing on my mind.

The beach has completely cleared now except for some faint silhouettes in the distance. There are a few remaining embers that continue to glow in the night, remnants of the bonfires that had blazed brightly moments before. But nothing is permanent, and now coal is all that remains of them.

I fix my glare on where my father stands, packing up the last remaining stuff with Helen.

"Annabeth," Percy warns, trying to grab my arm reassuringly, but I turn on him.

"Let go of me."

I turn, gasping for air as I make my way over to my dad and stepmom. I feel my friends right behind me, but it's like they aren't even there. I am completely alone.

"You knew all along!" I shout at my dad's back. My voice comes out as a croak––a hollow, empty screech of an out of tune string on a violin.

My dad turns around, and as soon as he sees my expression, his face grows confused. "Annabeth, what––"

The string snaps.

I march right up to him, throwing my finger at Helen. "You knew what a monster she was to me all along!"

Then, I laugh. "And you didn't even care!" I sound absolutely insane. But it's not because I'm deluded. It's because the blinders have been lifted. For the first time ever, I see just how far my boundaries have been pushed. It's not even like I'd been walking towards the edge of a clif. No, I'd been pushed off years ago. And I just hadn't even realised it. Because I hadn't wanted to face the truth.

"For years I thought that you were just too absent, too blind, to see how she treats me," I shout at my dad, then shake my head. "But that's not true at all. You saw it all along and just didn't care enough to do anything about it!"

I bury my face in my hands, unable to look at him, but he's so close I can hear him breathing nervously.

"Annabeth, that's not true––"

My eyes shoot up to his. "She checked me into a _correctional facility _when there was nothing wrong with me!" I shout, pointing at Helen, who has her arms crossed over her chest in disdain. "And you still married her!" A sob pushes its way out of my throat.

My dad's eyes grow dark, guilty. "How did you know––" he starts, but I cut him off.

"You've always known," I sob. "You've always known how she treated me, and you still chose to be with her anyway!"

My dad's jaw is tight. "That was a long time ago Annabeth." My anger surges.

"Was it a _long time ago _when she called me a slut right to your face a couple weeks ago, and you didn't say a word?"

My dad's expression falls.

Behind me, Percy shouts, "You let her say what?" and steps toward my father angrily, but I push him back with my arm.

"What kind of father stays with a woman who treats his daughter that way?" I cry, wiping the tears from my face. "What kind of father lets _anyone_ treat his daughter that way?"

My dad is completely silent, his face an impenetrable fortress. For once, Helen doesn't say a word.

"I've been turning a blind eye to it my whole life––blaming every misfortune in my life on her," I say, jabbing my finger in Helens direction. Then I shake my head. "But the truth is, if you loved me, she wouldn't have even been in my life in the first place."

I step up closer to him now, so that we are face to face. I search for any sign of remorse. And I can tell that he feels it, but he would never act on it. My dad has been choosing Helen over me my whole life, and from looking at the unwavering expression in his eyes, I can finally see that that will never change. And I shouldn't have to fight for love. It should be given.

"I'm done with you Dad." I say, my voice finally whole again. "Because I deserve to be loved in a way I finally realize you don't."

And with that, I turn away from him, marching across the sand. Thalia wraps her arm around me as we walk, and I let her, leaning into her embrace. I let my remaining tears fall silently, too exhausted to care anymore. I feel defeated, but at the same time victorious. I feel as though I have finally come to the end of a race I've been running my whole life, but it took everything out of me.

When we finally reach the top of the stairs, I collapse into Percy's arms, burying my face into his chest and letting my silent tears stain his shirt. Thalia rubs reassuring circles on my back, and we just stand there, until my face is dry and the air has returned to my lungs. They give me exactly what I need.

Because that's what love is.

Giving.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Annabeth POV

"Percy, I'm not doing it," I say, crossing my arms defiantly.

He narrows his eyes at me. "Wanna bet?"

On the lawn behind him, hoards of people walk by, all snapping pictures with their cameras and stuffing things into their fanny packs.

"Oh, I'm sure," I say.

Percy and I are on the front lawn of the Griffith Observatory, surrounded by dozens of other people, all taking pictures of the brilliant view of Los Angeles. I've been wanting to come here forever, and I was unbelievably happy when Percy offered to come with me.

Right now we're standing a little bit aways from the front entrance, and I'm itching to get in––but of course, Percy, being the goofball he is, wanted me to take a picture of him in front of the Hollywood sign first. In it, he's doing the super cheesy touristy thing where you hold up your hand so that, when shot at the correct angle, it looks like you're holding the landmark. His photo turned out great (of course it did, I'm an excellent photographer––it has nothing to do with him being inhumanly attractive), but now he wants me to take a photo too, and I'm not having it.

"It's cheesy and I wouldn't be caught dead doing it," I tell him with a laugh.

Percy raises an eyebrow at me. "Oh yeah?"

I nod my head, keeping my arms crossed. "Absolutely."

Just then, he smirks and lunges at me, wrapping me up in a bear hug.

I shriek, laughing. "Percy let go of me!"

But he's relentless. He wrestles my hands down to my sides, and I'm laughing like a crazy person. Percy is grinning ear to ear, and once he has my arms pinned to my sides, he slips his phone out of his pocket and flips the camera so that it's facing us.

"Percy no!" I say, laughing so hard I'm almost crying.

He lifts the phone up even higher. "Smile!" he says, and then opens his mouth with his head facing the side so that it looks like he's eating the Hollywood sign. And somehow, despite my struggling against him, he pulls it off.

Percy lifts his hand to block the glare so that he can admire the photo.

I just shake my head at him. "Jerk."

Percy looks up at me, grinning. "I can live with that insult because I'm pretty sure that this is my favorite photo ever." He waves his phone for emphasis, and I laugh, taking his free hand in my own.

We make our way up to the observatory, and the moment we step through the doors, I can't help but beam. A giant pendulum swings slowly inside of an observation circle, and above it, the ceiling is covered in beautiful art. It reminds me of an ancient art museum, despite the fact that the observatory is a planetarium that was built in the 1930's. I tell Percy this, and he smiles down at me with admiration.

"You're adorable," he says, kissing my cheek. It makes my stomach do summersaults.

The observatory is so much more impressive on the inside than I thought it would be. Most science museums are decked out with modern architecture––white beams and glass windows, but the observatory is riddled with these beautiful corinthian columns and victorian artistry. It makes me want to jump for joy. Science _and _history in a beautifully crafted building! Who could ask for more?

We pass by an exhibit that is demonstrating the tendencies of electricity. It's this spherical conductor that throws these lightning-like discharges at the walls of the alcove. I stop to read the placard description, and after a moment, Percy shakes his head helplessly.

"Annabeth, you're going to have to explain that to me, because even the stuff I can make out through the dyslexia sounds like gibberish to me."

I laugh. "Yeah, it's taking me a while to get through it too. I guess it's called the Tesla Coil. It basically converts low-voltage current electricity to very high voltage by increasing the frequency. I don't completely understand the science behind it, but it was named after this inventor, Nikola Tesla. He created the first model in 1891, which is insane, and the main aim of it was to transfer electricity through the air, to find a way to provide electricity without using wires."

Percy cocks his head to the side. "So this Tesla dude was basically trying to harvest lightning?"

I can't help but grin. "Basically."

"I don't know why that makes me uneasy."

I laugh. "It's not like he was planning on carrying lightning across the country in a backpack or anything."

Percy grins down at me. "I guess. You'd have to be pretty insane to pull something like that off."

"You're such a seaweed brain," I say shaking my head. I grab Percy's hand, and we continue on to the next exhibit.

We spend the next couple of hours looking at everything we possibly can. There's about a million telescopes, and I make a point of looking through every single one. I find telescopes fascinating––if I didn't understand the science behind them, I'd find them almost magical. The idea that Hans Lippershay was able to create something to connect people to the stars makes him more godly than any deity I've ever heard of.

Percy and I make our way through various astronomy and solar system exhibits, and he asks questions at every single one. The fact that he is trying his best to take an interest in the stuff that interests me warms my heart beyond belief. I don't think that there's ever been anyone in my life who cared enough about me to take those kinds of steps to get to know me, and it means everything to me that he does.

I think Percy's favorite spot is the monument to _Rebel Without a Cause_, which is so like him, I can't help but smile.

"I had no idea it was shot here!" Percy exclaims. "If I'd known that, I would've made it a point to take you here a long time ago."

We walk around for a little bit more, and just when we've seen just about everything, we head for the planetarium. I saved the world renowned Samuel Oschin Planetarium for last because I knew it would be something I'd want to end a perfect day with, and the moment we step in, I know I've made the right choice.

The planetarium is a humongous domed room cast in this ethereal blue light. In the center of the room sits this gigantic circular projector that has these lens craters all over the surface, which ironically reminds me of the moon. Circulated in rings around the projector are these movie theater-esque reclining seats, and Percy and I trail behind a line of people as they file into the seats.

I'm grinning like crazy.

The moment Percy and I sit down, we let out a unanimous sigh of relief. I guess it has been a couple of hours since either of us last sat down. It's amazing how easy it is to lose track of time.

"Why can't movie theater chairs be this comfortable," Percy whispers beside me.

"Because movie theaters don't have millionaire investors."

He laughs. "Fair enough."

I take Percy's hand as we settle back into the seats, grateful for his presence beside me. All around us, the blue lights start to dim to black, and Percy brings my hand up to his lips, sending chills down my spine.

The introductory announcement begins to take place, and once it does, the room is completely dark. I feel my pulse racing. The entire experience is completely otherworldly, and it makes excitement bubble in my chest. Percy and I rest our linked hands on the armrest between us in an almost lazy manner, like we have all the time in the world. Our joint hands are hot in the warmth of the enclosed space, slick with sweat. But we're so beyond being embarrassed about sweaty hands at this point in our relationship, and I love that. It means that we care more about being together than we do about covering up our insecurities. It's an exemplification of our closeness and insight into one another. I massage his fingers with my own, creating a kinetic friction between us as the opening announcement comes to a close, plunging us into a void of silence.

All of a sudden, the ceiling of the dome lights up with the universe. A crystal clear projection of the stars swirls above us, casting a white glow over the room. Between us, Percy presses his thumb to the inside of my wrist, as if checking for a pulse.

The moderator's voice booms throughout the room, guiding us through the images of the swirling stars above. With each new constellation, the room lights up in a different way, casting shadows and sparks of light across the room. It's too dark to see Percy beside me, but I can feel him in a way that's almost supernatural, like I'm so in touch with every particle that makes up his body that I can feel their kinetic energy.

The moderator's voice takes us through the history of the universe, and I find everything it says fascinating. It's one thing to read about something, but this planetarium is incredible because it's giving me a chance to actually _experience _it.

It reminds me of how I first felt when Percy and I started dating. I've read about a million novels with these thrilling and indescribably intense romances, but I guess a part of me always assumed that that kind of love was really just fiction. Until this summer, I'd never seen a relationship like the ones you read about first hand, and I guess that made me think that the kind of love you read about in books must only exist in books. That real life love could never compare to made-up love, and that fiction was just people writing about what they crave for in their own life.

But now I realize just how wrong I was. People don't write about romance because it's this unachievable ideal, they write about it because once you're actually blessed with the opportunity to experience it for yourself, it's this allconsuming, unreal experience. Meeting Percy awakened something in me, some hope for love I never thought I'd actually get to experience in my lifetime. And suddenly, the strength of what I feel for him makes it hard to breathe.

Above me, the stars and the planets and the galaxies flash across the dome, but the truth is, I already have the universe sitting right beside me, milky ways between our clasped hands.

I grip Percy's fingers hard, letting the heat between our hands build, and he grips my hand right back. We sit like that for the rest of the demonstration, our hands linking us physically, and our feelings for eachother connecting us emotionally. It's beautiful. The universe above me and the universe beside me are beautiful, and in that moment, I wish it could last forever. That I could stay here like this, with him, in this way, permanently. But things wouldn't be as beautiful to us if they lasted forever.

The demonstration ends, plunging the room back into blackness. After a moment, the dim blue light slowly starts to make its way back into the room, and once again, I can make out Percy's features beside me. He's staring right back at me.

"That was incredible," he whispers with a grin.

His eyes look greener than ever in the blue glow of the room, and I could stay there staring at them forever. But alas, everyone around us begins to stand, and we're forced to follow suit, filing out linearly.

Percy and I maintain our handhold throughout the entire walk out of the planetarium. I lean my head against his shoulder as we make our way back towards the entrance of the observatory. The entire entrance hall is pretty much empty except for a couple of older couples still gazing at photographs here and there.

The moment we step out of the front doors, I'm immediately hit by a burst of warm, summer air. It's completely dark outside, and the paths that cut across the front lawn are lit up by lampposts.

"Thanks for today," I say to Percy as we make our way down the front steps.

He gives my hand a squeeze. "No thank _you. _I'd've been completely lost if I didn't have you to explain everything to me."

"You wouldn't have even been there in the first place if it weren't for me," I point out.

"True," Percy replies with a grin.

Percy's car is parked a little ways away in this upper lot near Griffith Park, but I don't mind the walk. I'm perfectly content to be here with him here right now.

"I can't get over how beautiful that architecture was," I say. "The domes alone were enough to make my day."

Percy's arm brushes mine as we walk. I can feel the heat radiating off of both of our bodies, the unusually humid Los Angeles air making us both sweat.

"You never really told me why you want to be an architect," Percy points out. "I remember you telling me that you would've wanted to be an architect even if your mom wasn't one, but I don't think I ever asked why."

I kick up dirt beneath my sneakers, smiling, thinking for a moment before I respond.

"It's hard for me to explain the appeal that architecture has on me, Percy. I was building buildings out of legos before I could walk." Percy urges me on with his eyes, and I release a sigh before continuing.

"I'm gonna get kind of deep here, but ever since I was little, I've never really had anything I could depend upon." A breeze blows, creating a coolness against my hot skin. "I grew up without my mom for the most part. My dad was never really around. Helen couldn't have cared less about providing structure in my life. They got married when I was five, and Bobby and Matthew were born soon after that, and from there I was pretty much always on my own. I think I'm so independent now because I had to create my own sense of structure." I look down, feeling suddenly tired. "But the life I made for myself in Virginia got completely uprooted when we moved to San Francisco. I mean, I was twelve, and in the blink of an eye, everything I knew disappeared––my friends, my neighborhood. Middle school was hard because I came in half way through and didn't really know anyone. So I threw myself into my studies. I got an academic scholarship to the school I go to now. But it's on the outskirts of town, and it takes me over an hour and a half to get there on the bus each morning. During volleyball season, practice runs so late that it's usually just easier for me to crash with teammates than it is for me to come home, and Helen doesn't even notice."

I look up at Percy. He's gazing at me in a way he never has before: a deep understanding settling behind his eyes. He and I have never had trouble opening up to each other, but there's still so much we haven't talked about.

"I guess it's just always been hard for me to feel stable in my life," I continue. "I've always felt like at any moment the world could shift beneath my feet––I've never really had stable ground to stand on. I've never really had close friends, which is why I find this––" I motion to the space between us, "so scary. I'm getting close to you when in a couple of months, we won't even be living in the same state."

The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, but I'm glad I've finally said them. The knowledge that at some point the summer will end has been this shadow lurking in the back of my mind since the beginning of our relationship, and one look at Percy's face tells me he feels the exact same way. It's been an unspoken weight sitting between us for months, and now it's finally in the light.

"I want to be an architect because I want to build something permanent," I say. "My whole life, I've never had structure, something I could rely on, which is why I crave _permanence _so much. I want to build something beautiful to last a thousand years. I want to create pockets of stability, structures on sturdy foundations."

We've finally reached the car, and Percy and I come to a stop in front of it. The small lot is completely empty except for his car, and there's barely any light illuminating the space. But I can still make out Percy's face. His expression is hard and sturdy––a mixture of affection and intensity that is unchanging.

He takes my other hand in his free one so that we're facing each other.

"Annabeth, I will always be there for you." His eyebrows crease together with an intensity that makes my heart contract. "I know that we won't be together in a couple of weeks, that this summer will end and we'll have to go our separate ways, but wherever you are, I'll be there for you. Always. Some things can be permanent, even in light of change. No matter what happens with our relationship, this––" he pulls our clasped hands together, "will always remain. What we have right now, in this moment, will exist forever." His eyes gleam. "Nothing can ever take that away."

All I can do is stare at him. My entire life, all I've ever wanted is for someone to tell me that they were there for me. That I could rely on them. And here is this boy, this brilliantly kind, spirited, affectionate, green-eyed wonder clasping my hands and telling me he will always be here for me.

Slowly, I bring one of my hands up to Percy's face, cupping his cheek. I run my fingertips down his jaw to the point of his chin, admiring the beauty of him.

I shake my head. "How could you possibly like me, Percy?" I say. "You're the most considerate, free-spirited, devoted person I know. And I'm just––" I trail off. "I don't deserve you."

Percy looks as though I've punched him in the gut. His expression grows visibly angry, and it almost frightens me because I don't think I've ever seen his anger directed at me before.

"Annabeth how could you say that?" he asks, his voice broken like shards of glass. He runs a hand through his hair with an angry laugh. "Jesus, hearing you say that about yourself is like––" he motions frantically with his hand, "it's like you're stabbing me." He closes his eyes. "It physically hurts."

And just like that, I can't breathe. What on earth did I ever do to deserve someone like him?

Percy returns his grip to my hands.

"Annabeth, you are brilliant. And selfless. Everyday I marvel at your intelligence, wondering how someone so smart could ever like someone like me. Everyday I see you put yourself on the line for the things you care about. You bring joy to every part of my life, and I feel like my entire life before meeting you, I was sleepwalking. Like I was going through everything missing something essential. Because that's what you are to me, Annabeth––essential."

I look at him, seeing how much he cares about me written plainly across his face, and in that moment, some barrier inside me breaks. Some barrier I didn't even realize I had up around my heart shatters, and I let him in. I let Percy's smile, his laugh, his sturdy gaze and playful kisses, flow into my heart and pump through my veins.

"I want to show you something," Percy says. From his pocket, he pulls out his keys and walks around the car to pop the trunk.

I can't move, still shocked into stillness by his words.

From the trunk, Percy pulls out a folded blanket and smiles at me before closing the back door and locking the car. He walks over and takes my hand.

"Come on."

We make our way out of the small parking lot and onto one of the abandoned paths that runs through Griffith Park. Trees surround us, and there is no one around. The only light comes from the lampposts for most of the walk until we finally come to a break in the trees. Up ahead, I see something that makes me gasp.

Over the edge of a wooden rail, the entirety of the Los Angeles skyline spans out. The view is even more impressive than the time Percy and I were on the rooftop of the parking structure for my birthday, because from here, we can see everything. The rainbow from the Sony Pictures studio lot arches over a brightly lit block, and it's just one of hundreds. The silhouette of the buildings downtown stand out like a shadow, and the entire Los Angeles grid is ablaze with citylights. A far off beacon in the night that surrounds us.

In the sky, no stars are visible, but it doesn't matter because the city lights create constellations of their own. I tell Percy this, and he laughs.

"Only you would notice something like that."

I help Percy lay out the blanket, and together, we take a seat facing the skyline. The thick grass cushions the ground beneath the blanket, and the dampness of it feels good because of the hot air.

A slight breeze blows against the cliffside, and Percy runs a hand through the top of my hair, combing it back.

"The stars are permanent," Percy acknowledges, making me laugh.

"You do realize that you're saying that in one of the only cities in the world where you literally can't see any stars, right?"

Percy shakes his head. "You're wrong." He lifts his hand up, pointing to a spot off in the distance. "You can see that one."

And he's right. Right there in the ocean-black sky is a star, still managing to burn visibly despite the Los Angeles pollution.

Percy leans his head against mine. "Even through all the changes the world has undergone, that star is still there, Annabeth."

I close my eyes, leaning into Percy's shoulder, breathing in the scent of him. He has such a distinct scent that is so uniquely his own. It doesn't even smell like anything in particular, but it's so completely and utterly _his, _that it makes my chest ache.

I could recognize that scent anywhere. It means comfort, it means happiness. It means laughter and adventure, new places and new sights. It means home and someone I can rely on. It means love.

My eyes shoot open, my heart pounding.

I draw courage from the city lights below and from the glow of that single star above us. I draw courage from Percy's scent, because he consumes my senses. And my love for him flows from my heart, to my veins, to my lips.

I pull Percy's face toward mine so that our foreheads are touching.

"I love you," I say. The words come out like a gasp, like my feelings for him overflowed in that moment, spilling out of my lips.

Percy bites his lip and clasps my cheek in his hand. His eyes cover every inch of my face in an instant, soaking in every part of me. He smiles, his affection making his eyes glow.

"I love you too."

He pulls his lips to mine with the speed of two magnets snapping together. Any tether of restraint between us snaps, and I let my feelings for him pour from my lips to his. It's an electrical current traveling between us. Nikola Tesla was wrong. You don't need a Tesla Coil for electricity to travel through air.

The kiss is hot and fiery and fast. Our skin is burning from the humidity and from the growing passion between us. It's unlike anything I've ever felt before. Our kisses have never been this intense.

Because our feelings have never been this intense.

Percy pulls my hair loose and runs his fingers through my curls. I gasp into the heat of his neck, a burning fire coursing through my veins.

We fall to the blanket in a tangle of sweat and heated limps. Percy rolls on top of me, and I straddle him with my legs, unable to stand any distance between us.

He moves his mouth down to my neck, and my back arches involuntarily, pushing my body into his. I clasp at his back, gripping his sweat soaked shirt in my hands. Percy continues working on my neck, and I feel like a piece of me unravels with every brush of his lips. The space between us is so hot now that the air feels unbearably cold, and I cling to him with every fiber of my being, wanting the heat to envelop me.

Slowly, I snake my hands up Percy's shirt, pressing them against the muscles of his back, tracing every line of him with my fingers. I move my lips against his as I do, and when my hands come together at the small of his back, Percy pushes his forehead against the floor beside my head, gasping into my neck. It drives me crazy, and my breathing speeds up.

Percy takes a hand and runs it up my leg, all the way from my knee up to the base of my thigh, making my shorts ride up almost to my hip.

I trail kisses from the corner of his mouth all the way to the edge of his jaw. I want to feel every part of him beneath me. I want to run my lips over every part of his skin.

A sudden hunger takes over me, and I flip us over so that I'm on top of him. My hips arch involuntarily, and our bodies move together in a way I didn't know was even possible––two beings becoming one in a flash of heat.

Percy brings his hands up to my face again, drawing my lips back to his, unable to stand even a sliver of distance between us.

"I love you," he moans into my mouth. And I say it back––over and over and over again, into his neck, into his hair, against his eyelids, and against his lips––each word laying the foundations of something permanent.

We kiss until the steam rises from our bodies, cooling us down and leaving nothing but the meaning behind our words in its wake.

* * *

It's unbelievably late by the time we get back to the resort. The gates at the entrance have closed, and even the casino-crawlers have already retired.

When we finally pull up in front of my room, Percy leans over to give me one last kiss, whispering "I love you" into my ear.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing him say that.

I can't stop smiling as I step out of the car and make my way up the path to my door. I turn around and flash Percy one last wave before he drives off, and as he goes, I feel like he's taking a piece of me with him.

Because that's what tonight meant. We love each other, and now a part of me will always live with him. Permanently.

I feel so happy in that moment, replaying the events of the night in my head, that it's almost impossible for me to unlock the door.

It's much cooler down here at the resort than it was up at Griffith Park because we're so close to the water, but I'm still sweating up a storm, and my room key slides between my fingers.

I finally manage to open the door though, and as soon as I do, I kick off my sneakers, feeling around the room for the light switch.

I just want to be able to see where I'm going so I can plop into bed, letting my exhausted body relax into the mattress. I want to crawl into the covers so I can replay my kiss with Percy over and over until I finally fall asleep.

When I flick on the lights though, the sight that greets me makes me want to plunge back into darkness.

My entire room is wrecked.

My glass dining room table is shattered, shards of glass littering the floor. My couch has been turned over, and my pillows have been ripped open, feathers strewn across the ground.

I hold onto the wall to balance myself.

My cabinets and drawers have all been flung open, smashed dishes and ripped papers sprawling out of them.

An involuntary sob escapes my throat, and it takes me a moment to collect myself, my forehead braced against the wall. I take deep breaths, calming myself down. I need to go about this logically.

I slip my sneakers back on so that I don't step on broken glass, and I make my way into my bedroom, needing to further scout the damage.

My mattress has been thrown off the bed, and my closet door, having been ripped off its hinges, lies across my bedroom floor. My clothes are all off their hangers, and I nearly trip on the silver evening gown that I wore my first at the Colosseum as I make my way over to my mattress. I sit down and put my face in my hands, breathing heavily.

_Stay calm, _I tell myself.

I've never been much of a crier, but something about this shakes me to my core. I feel like I've been violated––my privacy invaded and vandalized. Frustrated tears stream down my cheeks, and I try to concentrate on the situation at hand, but I can't focus when my head feels this light.

_Think Annabeth, think. Who would want to do this? _

I try to be rational. I focus on my breathing to collect myself.

My first thought goes to Drew and Dylan, but that would be ridiculous. My mind also goes to Helen, but she and my dad left last week after the whole fiasco.

I breathe in and out, steadying myself.

But just when I've finally calmed down, that's when it hits me.

"Oh my gods," I say aloud.

I spring off my mattress and run out of my bedroom and into the hallway. I throw open the bathroom door, and as soon as I do, a frustrated scream escapes my throat.

I fall to the floor.

My medicine cabinets and medication bottles have been opened, and my pills are strewn everywhere. My shower curtain has been ripped from the rod, and now lays on the floor, but I couldn't care less about that.

What I care about is the drawer.

The top drawer of my bathroom sink is open, completely empty. I press my back against the wall of the bathroom, beginning to hyperventilate.

In that drawer, I kept the copies of the confidential files that I stole from my mom's office. That's where I kept my research on local environmental law, my theories and notes on the conspiracy at hand. Every bit of information I had on the case was in that drawer. And now it's been completely cleaned out.

I push my fists into my eyes and let out a guttural scream.

How could I have been so foolish.

It takes me minutes to calm down, and when I finally do, I need to summon all my strength to make myself stand up.

I look at myself in the mirror and am terrified by the girl I find staring back at me. My eyes are puffy and lined with dark circles. My hair is matted, and my skin is flushed. No hint of the happiness I'd felt tonight remains.

I splash water from the sink on my face to make myself calm down, and just as I'm drying off my face, that's when I notice it.

Through the reflection of the mirror, I make out that there is a note stuck to the back of the bathroom door. It takes me a moment to realize that I'm not just imagining it, and as soon as I do, I turn around sharply, ripping the note from the doorframe.

The note is curt, only a few lines written in typewriter font.

_Annabeth chase, we know what you've been up to. _

_Drop it now. _

_No more snooping. No more sneaking onto property. No more sneaking into meetings. _

_Don't tell anyone else._

_If you do, we will find out, and you will pay the ultimate price. _

_So will they._

_We're not afraid to get our hands dirty. _

Below the words, taped to the bottom of the note, is none other than my owl earring––the one I lost the day Percy and I explored the caves. Whoever was behind this must've traced it back to me.

How could I have been so stupid––sneaking into that board meeting, flashing the upside down delta symbol around like I knew what it meant. Of course that security guard would mention the incident to his advisors. I can just imagine it now: _Hey boss, just letting you know, some blond teenage girl claiming to work for the resort flashed the logo at me to get into this meeting. Just thought I'd check in with you to make sure she was supposed to be here. _

Gods, I can't believe how reckless I was. That must've been what raised suspicion that someone was onto them.

And then the earring must've confirmed that it was me who was snooping around.

I close my eyes and slide back down to my bathroom floor, reading the note over and over again, trying to find some way that I'd misinterpreted its words.

But it was clear as day. I'd been careless, I'd exposed myself, and now I was in danger, along with anyone else I dragged into this.

_We're not afraid to get our hands dirty._

The words shake me to my core.

The whole situation terrifies me. I don't think that anything has ever scared me so much in my life. I want to call someone, to talk to someone, but I can't, and the loneliness I feel in this moment feels like enough to swallow me whole.

Until I realize something.

Me being alone in this means that Percy will be safe.

I was the one who was recognized in the meeting. I was the one who left the earring behind in the cave.

They would have no idea about Percy.

I let out a sob of relief, leaning my head back against the wall.

They would have no idea about Percy.

And it has to stay that way.

And because I love him, even though it breaks my heart, in that moment, surrounded by scattered pills and broken glass, I know what I have to do.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Percy POV

The best part of having a super rich uncle is getting to hear your super rich cousins complain about their richness.

"Frankly, I don't even know why we have to go," Thalia complains, her mouth full of eggroll. "It's not like they need us there."

Right now, Thalia, Jason, and I are sitting at the poolside thai restaurant finishing up an early dinner before they have to go to some fancy dinner thing with their dad. Ever since Annabeth and I started dating, Thalia, Jason and I haven't been spending as much time together as we used to, so I'm happy that today we found some time to hang out.

"I bet you we could pay someone else to stand in for us, and no one would even know the difference," Jason jokes, pulling a piece of broccoli out of his fried rice. At least I think he's joking.

Thalia takes a swing of her water and shakes her head. "Nah, there's no way it would work. Even if we managed to avoid seeing dad and Hera the whole night, you _know_ she'd want us to pose for a photo at the end and we'd be caught."

Jason groans, and I just laugh. One of the only things Jason and Thalia can 100%, without a doubt agree on is their mutual hatred for their stepmom.

"How is Hera anyway?" I ask. "I feel like I haven't seen her in forever."

Thalia groans. "Same as usual. She's enjoying making us miserable with all the press stuff regarding the resort expansion."

"Yeah it's kind of scary how seriously she's taking it," Jason remarks. "Photo op this, fundraiser that. You'd think she was the resort's owner."

"And that's the most annoying part!" Thalia says, throwing her hands up. "She could be!" A little piece of padthai dangles from the edge of her fork, and I would point it out to her, but drawing the attention of an angry, fork-wielding Thalia probably isn't a smart move.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Jason leans forward, only having a slight bit more composure than Thalia. "Apparently Hera's like this genius Harvard-grad with a degree in business and economics."

"We found out like two weeks ago at an event when we ran into someone from her graduating class," Thalia adds.

"No way," I say. "Haven't we always made fun of Hera for being this super worthless gold digger? And now you're telling me she could totally be rich on her own if she wanted to?"

Jason nods his head. "It's super weird."

"More like super annoying," Thalia groans. "Gods she sucks."

I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms. I'd always just assumed Hera was this good for nothing stepmother stereotype, so learning that there's actually a brain beneath all the makeup and designer jewelry is a little weird.

"Speaking of terrible stepmothers," Jason starts. "How's Annabeth? That whole thing at the beach the other day was pretty intense."

Thalia leans forward, concern taking over her face––a rare sight, so you know it's genuine. "Yeah, how's she holding up? I haven't gotten a chance to speak with her since that night."

At the sound of Annabeth's name, some sort of otherworldly fire ignites in me, making me feel equal parts giddy and itchy. It's pretty annoying.

"She's up," I stammer. "I mean, she's holding up. Well. She's holding up well."

Thalia arches an eyebrow. "What the fuck is up with you Percy?"

I scratch the back of my neck. The truth? I'm still feeling a little unbalanced after last night. I mean, I can honestly say that I've never experienced anything like it. I've never been close to someone that intensely.

"He and Annabeth said 'I love you' for the first time last night," Jason says, grinning.

I shoot him a glare.

Thalia's face lights up. "You didn't!"

I roll my eyes, trying to look nonchalant, but if the heat in my cheeks is any indication, I doubt I'm doing a good job. It also doesn't help that I can't seem to help the smile that takes over my face.

I cave. "Yeah, we did."

Thalia squeals (a sound I didn't even know she was capable of making). "Gahh I'm so happy for you guys."

I glance over at Jason, who's eyeing me in the way a proud parent would.

"Gods you guys are annoying," I joke.

"We're just happy for you man," Jason says, and bites into an eggroll.

"Yeah you guys both deserve it," Thalia adds, and takes the rest of the eggroll out of Jason's hand, shoving it into her own mouth. I smile.

I honestly couldn't be happier right now. I don't know what I ever did to deserve someone like Annabeth, and frankly, I have no idea why someone as smart as her would ever want to be with me.

And I love her. I really do. The way I feel about her doesn't compare to anything I've ever felt before. It's like all of the sudden, the thing that makes me happier than anything else in the world is seeing her smile, and I'm pretty sure I'd do just about anything to keep her smiling.

"So," Thalia starts, brushing eggroll dust off on her jeans. "Are you guys hanging out later?"

I grin. "Yeah, she's gonna meet me down by the pool after my night shift."

Jason smirks. "Hey, isn't that where you guys had your first kiss?"

"Gods you guys are hopeless," I moan, flicking some water at them from the top of my glass.

"Hey, no using water as a weapon Percy," Thalia jokes. "What are you, a waterbender?"

Jason smirks. "He wishes."

The next couple of minutes go by just like that, the three of us teasing each other and joking around, until we see the sun start to set over the side of the Colosseum, and Thalia checks her phone for the time.

"We should probably get going," she says to Jason.

He nods, taking one last bite of padthai. "Kay."

Thalia pulls a wad of bills out of her back pocket and throws it on the table, standing up. I join them, pushing in my chair behind me.

"Thals, remember we have to stop by the house to get our clothes for tonight," Jason says, leading the way out of the restaurant.

My uncle has this giant house hidden away on the outskirts of the resort property where he stays while working here in the summer. It's definitely big enough for Thalia and Jason to stay in too, but they prefer to stay in rooms––they like being closer to the heart of the resort, and they prefer to be as far away as possible from Hera and their dad.

"Shit, I forgot about that," Thalia whines. "Do you have the key?"

"It's back in the room."

Thalia rolls her eyes. "I don't know why dad thinks I don't know how to dress myself," she whines.

"Because you don't," Jason and I joke in unison, and Thalia shoots us a glare.

When we've finally reached the lobby of the Colosseum, Thalia turns and gives me a hug.

"I'm happy for you," she whispers in my ear.

I pull her tight. "Thanks Thals."

She pulls away, and Jason flashes me a quick wave. "See you tomorrow Perce."

I watch as Thalia and Jason head out the front door. They stumble over each other, both of them trying to be the first one through. Once they've left, I turn on my heel and head down the stairs to the locker room. And as I walk, I find that I can't help but smile.

Only four hours until I get to see Annabeth.

* * *

It's completely dark out by the time my shift is done. It's a clear night out, and there's very little smog, so a couple of stars are visible up in the black sky.

It's about 11:15, and I have to kick out a few stragglers from the pool since it closes at 11:00 (I definitely don't tell them that I'm rushing them cause my girlfriend is coming to meet me).

Once I've finally ushered the last of the pool-lurkers out the gate, I take a deep breath, inhaling the scent of chlorine from the water. There are few things I love more than the smell of chlorine. It always reminds me of childhood trips to the community pool with my mom, and summers with Thalia and Jason when I was growing up. Now that I'm older though, I associate a whole new set of memories with the scent––my first kiss with Annabeth, late lunches with Thals and Jason, goofing off with our friends in the pool.

I head over to the lifeguard chair to pack up my stuff, a smile on my face. It takes me a couple of minutes to finish gathering up the equipment, and I've just finished tightening the padlock on the pool shed when I hear a knock on the gate. My head shoots up.

Annabeth stands behind the door, the bars of the gate casting vertical shadows across her face. The moonlight gives her hair a silvery glow that perfectly matches the stormy grey of her eyes. I quickly run over to let her in.

Tonight, Annabeth is wearing cropped shorts and a simple tank top that hugs her curves in a way that makes me break out in a nervous sweat. Her hair is out of its usual ponytail, running freely down her shoulders, and I can't help but notice how much it's grown since the beginning of the summer. When I first met Annabeth, her curls barely passed her chest––now her hair reaches several inches below her elbows.

"Hey," I say, eloquent as always.

Annabeth smiles at that, a flash of amusement at my awkwardness. "Hey yourself," she says, grinning, but her smile only lasts a moment. She quickly looks away.

"Hey, you okay?" I ask, suddenly hesitant.

Annabeth brings her eyes back up to my face and nods her head. "Mhmm."

I get the distinct feeling that something's bothering her, but if she doesn't want to talk about it, I don't want to force her to. The best I can do is just be there for her.

"Let's go sit by the pool," I say lightly, taking her hand.

Annabeth looks at our interlocked hands for a moment, her gaze lingering. "Okay," she says softly.

We walk along the length of the pool in silence, finally coming to sit in the space under the lifeguard chair where we had our first kiss. It's not even something either of us do intentionally––it just happens instinctively.

We both kick off our shoes and put our feet in the water, leaning into its warmth. The pool lights cast a glow over our legs, creating moving shadows across our thighs that remind me of ocean waves.

"I was thinking we could head over to the golf course tonight," I say, trying to lighten the mood. "It's completely deserted right now since it's poker night up at the Colosseum. We could lay a blanket down, maybe watch something on Netflix?"

Beside me, Annabeth swallows hard. "Percy…"

Something about her expression tells me she's not too keen on the idea.

"Or we could totally do something else," I say. "You're right, the grass would probably be wet anyway." I give her hand another squeeze. "We can do whatever you want."

"Percy..." Annabeth says again. Her eyebrows are drawn together in a sad, tight expression. Something about her look terrifies me. It's as though there's something deeply troubling her. But that's not the part that scares me, so much. The part that really scares me is that her expression seems to have an air of hopelessness about it––as though she's decided that whatever it is that's bothering her is unavoidable.

I bring my hand up to her face. "Hey," I say slowly. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth leans into my touch for a brief moment.

"Tell me what's upsetting you so I can help you fix it," I urge. My voice is raw as I speak the words, as though my feelings for her are draining me of my composure. "Is it your stepmom?" I ask. "Your dad? If they did something––"

Annabeth closes her eyes for a moment, pained. She takes a deep breath. "No, they didn't–– I haven't spoken to them." Then, she does something that surprises me. Annabeth pulls her hand out of mine slowly, taking it into her lap. She won't meet my eyes, and I can't help feeling a little hurt by it. I've never seen her this reserved before.

After a long moment, Annabeth takes another deep breath, staring out over the water. "Percy, we need to break up."

For a moment, I don't process the words. I'm too entangled in my concern for her to realize what she's saying. But when the words go through, I feel like someone's sucked the air out of my lungs.

"What?"

Annabeth turns her face away from me. Her voice is equal parts stern and soft when she talks, as though she's terrified of continuing, but certain that she has to. "We need to break up." She swallows hard. "I–– I just can't do this anymore."

I feel like a rock is forming in my stomach––a sick, hardening weight expanding inside of me. I try to grasp for an explanation of what might be making Annabeth say this, and I frantically try to find a reasoning for her words.

"Annabeth, if this is some sort of thing about you being afraid to let people in," I say, my voice cracking, "then I _swear _I'm not going to hurt you. I know that what we have is terrifying––" A frantic laugh escapes my throat. "Hell, it's one of the scariest things I've ever experienced in my life––but that just means it's worth fighting for."

I take her hand again, this time holding it firm. "Annabeth, I can't even begin to understand the kind of pain you've been through in your life––what kind of damage it's left on you, but I _swear _I won't leave you like that. Please, _please _trust that."

Annabeth turns toward me, meeting my eyes for the first time, pain plain on her face. About a million emotions flash in her eyes, and among them, an unmistakable surge of affection––which is why I can't possibly understand what comes out her mouth next.

"But you will Percy," she says, her voice raw. "It won't be your fault, but you will. The summer's gonna end, and I'm gonna go back to San Francisco, and you're gonna go back to New York, so we might as well just––" her voice breaks off.

A sudden burst of undirected anger surges through me. "Annabeth, that doesn't matter! What I told you last night still stands!" I close my eyes, trying to compose myself. My voice is softer when I speak again. "Annabeth, whatever happens down the road will happen. But right now––" I raise our linked hands. "_This_ is here to stay."

Annabeth closes her eyes sadly, and for a moment, I think I have her. But it's like I'm fighting some invisible opponent––like some opposing force I can't see is slithering its way into Annabeth's mind. She pulls her hand out of mine for the second time, bringing it to her chest like she's nursing a fresh wound. I see her visibly grasping at straws, trying to figure out what to say. It's a look I so rarely see from Annabeth, that it gives me the impression of something being completely and utterly _wrong_. I simply can't understand why she would be trying to look for a reason to break up with me.

After a moment, Annabeth looks away. "We have nothing in common," she says softly.

A manic laugh escapes me. "What? We have _nothing in common?_" I shake my head, exasperated. "Annabeth, we breathe the same air! Isn't that enough?"

Annabeth turns to me. I'm startled to see that she's started crying, thick tears leaving streaks of moisture on her cheeks. The glow of the pool turns the streaks white so that they almost look like scars.

I feel pressure building behind my own eyes, but it doesn't bring up any feelings of shame or embarrassment like it normally would. It just shows how much I care about her.

"Annabeth, _I love you,_" I press. "We have _that_ in common."

At that, Annabeth sobs, a real, raw expression of undiluted pain. It's quick and course, and it makes it so evident that she's struggling with what she's saying, so I can't possibly understand why she's even saying it in the first place.

Then, something happens to Annabeth's expression. Her features change gradually and painfully, like shifting tectonic places. Her face relaxes, releasing the pressure and creases of pain so that only stoicism remains. She has come to a decision. And she isn't backing down.

Annabeth meets my eyes, and for once, her eyes aren't a stormy grey. They're a stone grey, as though everything inside her has hardened. "I was wrong Percy," she says. "I _don't _love you."

I feel something break inside me in that moment. It's like any dam that was holding back the rising tidal wave of confusion and the pain from the past couple of minutes finally breaks with those words. I let the tears fall. I look away from Annabeth.

I'm confused, and angry, and upset, and I feel like a fire is burning it's way through my body, sucking out all the oxygen from my lungs. It leaves me weak.

In my peripheral vision, I'm vaguely aware of Annabeth getting up, of her picking up her shoes and making her way to the gate, but I don't follow her. I can't. It's like my body is physically incapable of moving.

At some point, I lay down, letting the cold stone of the ground seep into me, taking over my body. I let my limp limbs dangle in the pool, the water shifting them this way and that. I watch as the stars move up above, but at a certain point, the clarity of the night blurs. The fog rolls in and obscures the stars.

I don't know how long I sit there. It could be minutes, it could be hours.

At some point, the pool light finally turns off. And I'm left in darkness.

* * *

**A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry for having to do that to y'all :) I really am, but it had to be done for the sake of the story. **

**It's been a while since I last checked in, and I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for you guys. Every single review I read puts this giant smile on my face, and I can't even begin to describe how much you all mean to me. Thank you so much for sticking with this story and for being the most engaged readers a girl could ask for. **

**These are crazy times, and I hope everyone is doing alright. My pms are always open if you ever need someone to reach out to, if you have a question, or if you just want to talk. Just a heads up––If you don't have a account and are just leaving reviews as a guest, I can't actually respond to your reviews, so if you have a question, make sure to create an account so that I can respond to you :) **

**I've been getting a lot of people asking if I have a set update schedule, and unfortunately, the answer is no. I try to update at least every two or three weeks, but I never set anything in stone because I don't want to disappoint anyone if I can't live up to it. It always really bothered me when writers wouldn't fulfill their promises, so I don't want to do that to you guys––I love you too much. **

**On a lighter note, I'm completely stoked about the Disney+ series… Uncle Rick singlehandedly saved 2020. The idea that we will be getting a faithful adaptation of this series that has literally meant the world to me for the past seven years of my life has really made my outlook so much more positive in light of everything. I was going to go to Camp Half-Blood Austin this summer, and I'm super bummed that I can't be there in person, but I'm doing the online version right now, and it's a ton of fun. Let me know if you've ever been or are ever planning on going––I'd love to hear about your experience! **

**Sorry for the essay (and the last chapter––haha, I'm evil). Love you guys! **

**Best, **

**Kylie **


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Annabeth POV

It's been a week. I haven't opened the curtains once. I've spent most of my time in bed, only getting up to go to the bathroom or to get food, but the food in my fridge has been dwindling for a while now and I just can't seem to make myself leave to go get more.

Every time I close my eyes I see his face, and it makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry. I remember every detail of that night so clearly, it's like a movie that's stuck on a playback reel in my mind. I just wish it would stop.

I remember the shock that had passed over his face when I told him I wanted to break up. I remember his rush to deny my words––the way he pressed on to comfort me and tell me he loved me. But most of all, I remember the look on his face when I told him I didn't love him. The way his tears had fallen like some sort of emotional dam had come crashing down at my words. There are no words to describe the expression he had worn. And I had been the one who caused it.

I pull the covers tighter around me, hugging them to my heart, trying to fill the sudden emptiness that takes over my chest. And just like that, I can't breathe. My eyes are dry, but my breath heaves. It takes me several minutes to calm down.

Some older version of myself that I have locked away in my mind tells me that I'm being ridiculous. She tells me that he's just a boy, that I'm overreacting, that I'm being weak. But that Annabeth is a manifestation of my past self––an Annabeth who had no idea how deeply she could love. That Annabeth couldn't even begin to comprehend what I'm feeling because she hadn't experienced _him_ the way I had.

About two days into our breakup, I finally changed out of the clothes I'd been wearing that night, switching out my jeans and tank top for sweats and an oversized t-shirt. But I haven't changed since then, and boy is it obvious from the way I smell.

I haven't seen sunlight in days, and I'm sure that's taking a toll on me too. I know I need to go out––to get food, to go to my internship––but...I just can't bring myself to do it. I have this underlying fear that I'll run into Percy. I know it's irrational––as long as I'm not just wondering around, what are the chances that he and I will just happen to be at the grocery store at the same time? But I can't help the fear that runs through my body at the thought of seeing him. It's bad enough knowing that I hurt him. He doesn't need to be reminded of it. Neither do I.

There's only a couple more weeks left until school resumes. I'll head back to San Francisco, and everything will go back to the way things were before I came to Olympus Resort. I just need to wait it out here until then. And from the way things are going, it isn't looking like that will be too hard.

The next couple of hours pass beneath me in a daze––just as they have been for the past week. I fall in and out of sleep, getting up only when it's absolutely necessary. I've just settled back into a line of sleep when I hear a knock at the door.

At first, I think I've imagined it. Over the past couple of days, my mind has been torturing me with daydreams of Percy coming to my door––pulling me out of bed and kissing me hard, as if nothing ever happened between us. But I know that's impossible. I hurt him too much. And even if I hadn't, I couldn't see him. I broke up with him to protect him, and even if it means that I have to hermit away in this room for the next couple of weeks, I'd be damned if I put him in danger for selfish reasons.

For the second time, someone pounds on the door. Not my imagination. I groan.

Very slowly, I pull off the covers. I haven't moved in hours, and my body protests as I sit up, my feet sliding to the floor. Standing, I let my legs guide me out of my bedroom and to the front door where I look through the peephole. It's my mom. She stands impatiently, her hair pulled back in a high ponytail.

With a sigh, I open the door for her and a stream of sunlight washes into the room, momentarily blinding me after having been in the dark for so long. My mom steps through the door, her heels clicking against the floor as she enters.

"You're sick?" My mom says holding up her phone and waving it accusingly.

I roll my eyes and shut the door, enclosing us back into darkness. I had texted my mom that I wouldn't be coming into my internship because I was sick, but that was a week ago. No doubt she's caught onto something by now.

My mom looks around, her eyebrows pursed together. "Annabeth, what on earth? It looks like a cave in here. Why are all your curtains closed?" She moves to open one, but I quickly grab her arm, moving at a speed I haven't worked up to in days. She turns on me. "Annabeth what is going on?"

I swallow, crossing my arms over my chest. "I told you––I'm not feeling well."

My mom stares at me with a look of confusion for a moment, her head cocked to the side. Then, the weirdest thing happens: she looks at me. I mean, she looks at me all the time, but something feels different about it in this moment––like she's really trying to _see _me. I watch as her eyebrows unknit and the tension in her neck eases, the tight exterior she weaves in her appearance unraveling, becoming slack. She looks down to the floor sadly.

"You guys broke up, didn't you?" Her voice is low as she says it, softer than I've heard her speak in months.

I take a step back. "Whah–– what?"

My mom swallows, as if nervous. "You and your boyfriend. Zeus's nephew."

I just stare at her. It takes a moment for my breathing to slow. "You–– you knew I was dating someone?" My voice is raw as I say it, and the words bring a whole new wave of pain crashing down on me. _Was_.

My mom looks at me sadly, shifting her weight uncomfortably as if she wants to move toward me but doesn't know how. A moment of silence passes between us. "I'm sorry," she says. Her eyes are on the floor, and she's clearly uncomfortable. I'm surprised to see this side of her––to see her treading lightly. I didn't think it was in her nature.

Slowly, my mom raises her eyes to my face. Her eyes––the same stormy grey as my own––meet mine, and in that moment, I see genuine concern for me. It makes me even sadder. I can't help the sob that escapes my throat just then, and I quickly bring my hand to my mouth, embarrassed. But I can only hold it in for a moment, and pretty soon, I can't help it as hot tears spill down down my cheeks in a rush. My mom abandons her reserved stance and opens her arms, pulling me close.

At first I'm withdrawn, hugging my arms to my chest like armor. But the longer she holds me, the more I ease into her, and pretty soon my arms are wrapped tightly against her waist, clutching at the back of her shirt.

And for the first time since I was a little girl, I cry onto my mom's shoulder, letting my tears stain her shirt, but not even caring, because for the first time in a long time my tears finally have a parent's shoulder to fall on. With every second that passes, I feel a piece of the ice that coats my heart melt away, the cold thawing with the warmth of my mom's embrace.

And I cry.

My sobs come out in waves, spilling out of my chest like they're being yanked from my body by the comfort of her hug. I take in whiffs of my mom's scent between sobs, and it reminds me of being a little girl––of spending time with my mom in her office in New York during the summers when I stayed with her. Memories I didn't even remember I had come flooding back to me, filling me with warmth in the empty space my harsh sobs leave behind.

We stand like that for a few minutes, and when I've finally calmed down, we make our way over to the couch where my mom sits slowly, taking my head in her lap. She combs her hands through my hair, and it fills me with a calmness I haven't felt in days. It makes me feel protected, safe.

The only person who's ever run their hands through my hair in such an intimate way was Percy, but when he did it, it was loving: exploratory and heated. When my mom does it, it's completely different––motherly and comforting. I close my eyes, letting the amenity roll over me in waves, filling my body with calm.

"Do you want to talk about it?" My mom asks, her voice cautious. I shake my head, and so she just continues stroking my hair. She runs her fingers through my curls until my breathing stills and my body relaxes, and before I know it, I'm fast asleep.

* * *

When I wake up, my mom hasn't moved an inch. She still sits exactly as she had when I fell asleep, my head nuzzled in her lap. When the dark room finally comes into focus, I sit up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

The whole moment feels surreal, like something I experienced in a dream. I feel like my body's been through the washer and left out to dry.

"What time is it?" I ask, my voice scratchy from crying.

My mom shifts her weight and picks up her phone from where it lies on the couch to check the time.

"It's almost 6:00," she says, her voice soft. I bring my hand to my head.

"Morning or night?"

My mom laughs, her voice like a ringing bell. "Night."

It feels weird having my mom here like this, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly embarrassed. We've never been very close emotionally, so to have her see me like that––in such a weak, vulnerable state––makes me feel ashamed almost, like she caught me at my worst.

"Thank you," I choke out. "For...being here…"

My mom cocks her head sadly. "Of course." She leans back into the couch, crossing her legs as she does. She must feel pretty stiff after being in that position for so long.

"How long have you been locked up in here?" My mom asks, motioning around to the lightless room.

I bite my nails nervously. "About a week."

"And how long has it been since you showered?" She teases with a smirk.

A sheepish smile takes over my face. "About a week."

My mom laughs. "What do you say I go start the shower for you?" She places her hand on my shoulder lightly. "We can talk after?"

I nod my head slowly because, for the first time in days, the prospect of taking a shower actually does sound appealing.

I watch as my mom rises off the couch, making her way into the bathroom to start the water. As soon as she disappears around the corner, I place my head in my hands, breathing deeply. For the first time in days, I feel calm. It's like I've been turning to sleep as a way to avoid confronting the pain I was feeling, but now that I've let it out––shared it with someone else––it's not pent up to the point of eruption anymore. I'm able to keep my eyes open and breathe without feeling like an engine trying to run on empty.

Slowly, I rise and make my way to the bathroom.

I take an hour-long shower, and by the time I'm done, I feel more awake than I have in days. I feel like the steam has opened my pores and cleared my airways, letting my breath come more easily.

After I've thrown on a fresh pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, I make my way back into the living room where my mom sits at the dining table, reading one of the many books I have lying around. She looks up as soon as she hears me enter. "How you feeling?"

I smile. "A lot better."

My mom grins and pats the seat beside her. "Sit."

I make my way over to the seat beside her and sit down, curling my legs up under me and pulling my wet hair over my shoulder.

My mom motions to the books I have lying around. "Quite a collection you have here," she says, trying to start a conversation.

I cock my head at her with a slight grin. "I learned from the best."

She looks sadly out over the table towards the window. While I was in the shower, she pulled open all the curtains, and while it's too late for sunlight, it still feels good to have them open. I feel less caged in. A slight breeze blows up from the ocean, and I smile at the scent of it.

"Your father's the one with the real collection," my mom says, looking down at her hands. "He never did know when to let something go."

I don't know if it's intentional, but I catch a double meaning in her words. I can't tell if she's talking about the grudges my dad holds, or his relationship with Helen, but whatever it is, it makes me sad.

"He's gone you know," I say. "Left a couple days ago." My mom looks up at me.

"I'm sorry, hon."

I shrug. "It was for the best."

I can tell she senses there's something more to the story, but she doesn't press, and I'm thankful for it. I don't know how much more I could take at the moment.

My mom looks back out towards the window. The sky glows a dark blue out over the ocean, and not for the first time, I'm thankful to be lucky enough to look out over something so beautiful everyday.

"The key to dealing with the pain is to pick yourself up one step at a time," she says softly. "You need to feel your grief, but then start pulling yourself out of the hole. Chipping away at little things––even if they seem impossible in the moment––is where the healing comes from in the long run."

I stare at my mom for a moment, watching the shadows from outside flitter across her face. "You sound like you're speaking from experience."

My mom purses her lips before meeting my eyes. "Live and learn."

Sighing, I place my head in my hands. "Everything just feels so impossible right now," I say, embarrassed by the words that come out of my mouth. There's a sense of shame that comes with admitting I'm so torn up about a breakup, but my mom doesn't judge at all. In fact, she expresses an understanding at my words.

"You need to start small," she says. "Do something for yourself, then build on it from there. Things will get easier with every step you take."

I smile at her. "Thank you."

My mom returns my grin and nods her head lightly. "Do you have anything in mind?" She asks. "Any first steps you want to take?"

I look around us at the piles of books I have stacked up on the tabletop. "I think I'll start by returning some of these books," I joke. "Unlike dad, I know when to clear something out."

She laughs. "Well in that case, I'll help you sort through them before I leave."

* * *

I rush towards the Colosseum, the wind blowing hard on my face as I skate my way down the path, my backpack full of books strapped to my back.

The warm glow of the streetlamps guides my way up the sidewalk, and I'm thankful that there's almost no one out tonight. The privacy feels good. So does the freedom of being outside.

I'm grateful to my mom for showing up, even if I am a little shocked. I hadn't expected her to be so understanding, much less helpful in getting me through what I was feeling.

It's about 8:30, and I made sure to leave during a time when I knew Percy would be working to make sure that there's no chance I'd run into him. It would be cruel to run into him right now––both to him and me.

The gravel is rough beneath my board as I pull up to the Colosseum, and I slide my board into the bike rack before making my way up the steps.

The cool air feels good after being inside for so long, and I can't help but feel a little happy because of it, despite the underlying sadness that still tugs at my gut.

Even though I know I won't run into him, my mind is on high alert for any sign of Percy as I enter the Colosseum. I walk through the lobby feeling exposed, but no one pays me any attention, and I pass workers and guests alike as I make my way down the dimly lit hallway towards the library.

When I enter the room, a sense of comfort washes over me. The familiarity of the space––one of the first places I felt at home here at the resort––brings with it a sense of safety, and I'm sad to say that it's been a while since I was last here.

Looking around, I'm not surprised to find that the library is almost completely empty. I make my way into the space, and as soon as I do, I feel my face light up when I spot who's behind the counter.

There, Thalia sits, scrolling away on her phone, her choppy hair tied back into a tiny ponytail. Black bangle bracelets line her arms, and a smile shoots across my face at the sight of her. With everything I've been going through, I've missed my friend more than ever. "Thals!" I shout, dropping my backpack to the floor and making my way over to the counter, an eager spring in my step.

As soon as she looks up though, my smile falls.

I've never seen Thalia look at me the way she does right now. It's like all the looks she reserves for her least favorite people––Hera, Zeus, Drew, Dylan––have morphed together into a look of outrage and hatred that chills my bones. And it's directed at me.

I feel like I'm going to throw up. How could I have been so stupid.

In my mind, Thalia and Percy have always existed in two separate groups: bestfriend and boyfriend. The fact that they're cousins always took a backseat in my mind––something that just happened to be convenient when we all wanted to hang together. It's just about the least convenient thing in the world right now.

"What the _fuck _Annabeth?" Thalia stands as she says it, her eyebrows warped together. I want to curl up into a ball out of shame.

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. _

I take a step back.

"Are you _kidding me_ right now?" Thalia laughs. "You seriously have the audacity to show your face down here––the place that I _work_––after what you did to him?"

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. _

"I––" I start, but nothing follows. My mind is blank.

"I thought I _knew you_." Thalia says. "You were my _friend_. You were his––" Her voice breaks, and she shakes her head angrily. "How could you _do _that to him?"

With every word, I feel like I'm being dealt a physical blow. And the worst part is, I know it wouldn't hurt so much if what she was saying wasn't true.

Thalia looks at me with a gut wrenching mixture of sadness and disgust. "You broke his _heart _Annabeth." She laughs humorlessly. "And then you left him to rot like used goods! He called you over and over again––texted you a million times! The least you could've done was respond with some sort of explanation. You wanted to break up with him––fine! But give him a little follow up, a little closure. You can't just tell someone you _love _them and then dump them like trash, Annabeth. That was a dick move." She shakes her head slowly. "Who even are you?"

I feel pressure build up behind my eyes, and I muster every bit of strength I can to swallow my emotion down.

My phone's been dead for days, but even if it hadn't been, I know I wouldn't have responded to Percy's messages. The knowledge makes me sick to my stomach.

_Who even are you? _

The tears fall against my will, and I angrily wipe them away. Thalia presses on. She's inches away from me now.

"He's never liked...loved...anyone like that in his whole life, Annabeth!" She shakes her head. "And you just dumped him out of the blue." There's a moment of silence where she just stares at me, and I feel like my pulse is going to burst through my wrist. I let the tears fall painfully down my face as Thalia glances down, her voice growing deadly soft and angry. "Did you ever even love him?"

I can't take it anymore––I feel like her words are poison, slowly making its way through my bloodstream.

"I...I'm sorry," I choke out. I quickly turn on my heel, not able to bear the expression of hate on Thalia's face any longer. I'm vaguely aware of myself leaving my backpack behind, but I don't care. All I know is that I need to get out of there.

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. _

I rush out of the library and through the lobby of the Colosseum. I keep my head down as I move, doing my best to avoid the stares of passersbys.

As soon as I'm outside, the cool air no longer feels welcoming––it feels harsh, unforgiving. I leave my skateboard at its place on the bike rack, marching off down the sidewalk. I don't even know where I'm going, just that I need _out. _

I find myself making my way down the cliffside steps to the beach, and before I know it, My feet are in the sand. I leave my flip flops at the base of the steps and run across the empty beach, a fire burning in my lungs. I just need to get to the edge––as far as possible, as fast as possible.

When the first wave breaks across my feet, it's like an angry wakeup call, and I take a deep breath in. The cold numbs me, and I feel myself falling addicted to it. Without even thinking about what I'm doing, I lay down in the sand, the cold water completely soaking my body. The ground is freezing against my back, but as I lie there, I feel myself waking up, like the neurons in my body are finally becoming aware of my surroundings again. I'm soaking, but I don't even care. I feel more grounded than I have in days.

I'm just far upshore enough that the waves never rise up above my face, so I'm able to breathe, but I feel them roll past my head by my ears, the water stretching past the length of my body.

I take deep breaths in and out, letting my breathing move with the pull of the waves. It calms me, and I'm thankful for it.

I don't care how it makes me sound––breaking up with Percy was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I never could've anticipated how much it would hurt. But I wouldn't have done anything differently. Loving him means protecting him, even if it breaks my heart to do it.

A sudden surge of hatred rushes over me with the next wave that passes my head. Hatred for whoever threatened me, for whoever had the audacity to pursue this whole illegal dumping scandal and go to such horrific lengths to cover it up, forcing me to break the heart of someone I love. Hatred for my father and his tendency to choose other people over me, a tendency that has left me feeling abandoned and broken for most of my life. Hatred for my stepmother who never showed me a shred of kindness growing up, whose cruelty made me miserable for a huge portion of my life. Hatred for my mother for not fighting harder for me, for not saving me from the childhood I ended up having to endure. Hatred at myself for hurting Percy and pursuing something that forced me to cut myself off from some of the most important people in my life.

I let loose a scream. Anyone watching me would think I'm insane––laying in the freezing waves, screaming my head off. But there's no one around. And so I scream, grabbing at my wet hair in fistfulls.

I hate that I'll be heading back to San Francisco in the fall––back to my stepmom and a life without Percy and Thalia and the other friends I've made at the resort.

And in that moment, laying there, shivering in the cold as the dark waves roll past me, I make a decision.

My mom had said that to pull myself out of a hole, I'd need to chip away at the things that seemed impossible––the things that were holding me back.

I think back to the note that was left in my room the day before I broke up with Percy. _No more snooping. Don't tell anyone else. If you do, you will pay the ultimate price. So will they. We're not afraid to get our hands dirty. _

These people––whoever they are––are holding me back from living the life that I want. Through their threats, they're holding me back from finding happiness. But now that Percy's out of the equation, the only thing still looming over me is the threat to myself and my personal well being. But if I'm being honest, the biggest threat to myself that I can think of is the idea that I'll never be happy. That I'll keep having to live a subpar life, suffering under the cards I've been dealt. And I'm _sick_ of it.

Like my mom said, in order to pull myself out of this hole––this goddamn hole I've been living in my whole life––in order to find happiness, I need to chip away at what's holding me back. And that means pulling myself out from underneath the threats that are keeping me in chains.

Lying there on the freezing sand, the waves tugging at me from this way and that, I make a decision.

I need to fight my way out.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Annabeth POV

My bedroom looks like a bomb went off. Papers, post-its, and old wrappers litter the bed, floor, desk, and almost any other surface you can think of.

For the past couple of days, I've been hard at work planning out my next steps to find out who's behind everything that's been going on. I've been completely driven by my desire to find out who's behind the threats and the environmental scandal––neglecting almost everything else to focus on the search. I even have a stereotypical detective board––red yarn and everything––with pictures and notes on anyone who's potentially involved.

I've been careful about what I've been doing, though––I learned my lesson about that last time. Before I go to sleep at night I make sure to stuff everything in my (once empty) suitcase and hide it behind the bed. Whoever left the threatening note and searched my room that one night hasn't been back since then, and frankly, I doubt they will be. They're probably thinking that I'd have to be pretty insane to ignore their threat. But unfortunately for them, "sane" has never exactly been on my agenda.

I've finally come to a crossroads in my investigation. I've gathered just about everything I can on anyone I think or know might be involved: The Augurs and Octavian, Zeus, the resort donors, and a million other people who could all be behind the scandal. I feel like I'm finally ready to start doing tangible investigation.

I begin to pack up all of my research for the night, stuffing everything into my suitcase. Just before I'm about to zip it up, I look over my plan for the night one more time. I've created specific investigation plans for each of my suspects, and over the next week or so, I plan on investigating someone new each night.

Tonight, I'm going to start with Zeus. From what I gathered at the expansion meeting that Percy and I snuck into so long ago, Zeus probably isn't too heavily involved, but I think it's important to check him off the suspect list before I actually get to the heavy investigating. Not to mention, he's the person I have the most access to, with my being so close to Thalia and all. Scratch that. With my having _been _so close to Thalia and all.

I grit my teeth and stuff the last of the papers into my suitcase before zipping it closed and sealing it with a lock.

As soon as I stuff my suitcase behind my bed, I quickly throw on the darkest outfit I can find. I wind up wearing a long black turtleneck with leggings, dark hiking boots, gloves, and my platinum hair pulled back tight under a black bandana. I even add a belt of "might-needs" for good measure. If there's one thing I'm certain of going into this, it's that my wardrobe choice certainly won't be my undoing.

When I step outside, I'm greeted by a cool breeze. It's pretty windy, and the part of myself that's beginning to work up a sweat in the long layers is thankful.

I know I can't take my skateboard with me tonight––it'd be a dead giveaway if anyone saw it––so I decide to walk. I don't mind though. I need the time to think.

The sky above is dark, with flecks of orange down by the horizon where the sun has just set. Normally, I'd prefer to do something like what I'm about to do when it's completely dark out, but I know that I'll have a much better chance of being successful if I go at a time when I'm absolutely sure no one will be home. I know that tonight there's another big resort board dinner party, and I'm sure that everyone will be there by now.

I take a familiar route down the resort streets––one it seems like I've taken a million times at this point. I pass couples holding hands on their way to dinner, kids running around in the street, and even a couple of elderly people walking their dogs and enjoying the sunset.

I've only been walking for a couple of minutes when I turn onto the all too familiar sidestreet, my heart contracting as I do. I've planned out this part of the night to a tee, but I never could've prepared for the way I'd feel making my way down Percy's street. I take a deep breath and move forward.

At least it's not going to be _his _room I'm searching through. But walking down the street makes me sad, nonetheless.

I push forward until I reach the door to Thalia and Jason's room, slipping my hand under the doormat for their spare key. I used to do this all the time back when Thalia and I were still hanging out, and I feel a small pang of guilt now that I'm doing it without her knowing––like I'm betraying her trust. _It's for a good cause_, I tell myself before sliding the key into the lock and pushing open the door with a flick of the lights.

Their room is a mess, as usual. Food wrappers and unwashed dishes cover every surface, and clothes are strewn across the floor. I smile sadly, missing every inch of it.

I make my way into the room and begin opening the kitchen drawers, knowing exactly what I'm looking for.

Even though I've never actually seen it, Thalia's talked a million times about the house her father keeps on the outskirts of the resort property––where he and his wife stay during the summers while they run the resort. Thalia and Jason preferred not to stay with them––no doubt because they preferred to be away from Zeus and Hera––which is why they stay in the rooms, closer to the heart of the resort.

And closer to Percy.

I take a deep breath and continue rummaging through the drawers.

Despite not staying in Zeus's house, Thalia and Jason have a key, and that's what I'm here to find. No doubt it's something obnoxious––something big and flaunty––so that's what I look for. My eyes scour the items in the drawers, but I find nothing, so I move on to a few other spots.

I check the dining area, the couch cushions in the living room––I even check the pockets of some of the clothes on the floor––before making my way over to Thalia and Jason's bedrooms.

As soon as I step foot in Jason's room, though, my breath catches.

Sitting on the bed is Percy's bag and his skateboard. And there's no mistaking it––it's the very same board that he was riding when I ran into him on the day we met.

For a split second, the irrational part of my mind makes me look around hopefully, searching for him. It only takes a moment for reality to set in, however, and my pulse slows.

Percy probably just came over here to get ready for the dinner party and left his stuff behind. Nothing to get worked up about.

But I can't help it. As cheesy as it may sound, just the thought of him makes me get worked up. I feel my stomach flutter, and my mouth goes dry, and I'm immediately flooded with a surge of emotion that is equal parts love and sadness, all jumbled together into a confusing and heartbreaking mingle.

I know I shouldn't do it, but I can't help myself as I step towards the bed. My body moves as if caught in a trans, and against my conscience, I find myself unzipping Percy's bag. I pull back the flap, smiling.

On top lies Percy's lifeguard sweatshirt––one I've worn more times than I can count. I take the dark red fabric in my hands and, feeling like the world's biggest creep, bring it up to my face, taking in the scent of him.

An involuntary sob escapes my throat as I hold the sweatshirt up to my face. It smells like salt water and chlorine, a scent that is so, unbelievably _Percy _it breaks my heart.

I want to hold the sweatshirt forever, and I keep it pressed up to my cheek as I continue. In his bag, Percy has sunscreen, a bag of chips, an extra towel, and a few other things. It's all so casual, but every item breaks my heart, like I'm getting a glimpse of him through a looking glass or a television screen––like he's _there_, but I can't be with him.

And boy does it hurt.

I begin putting everything back the way I found it, one item after another, before finally zipping the bag back up. I rub the side of my neck, where a dull ache has begun taking place.

I feel guilty for going through Percy's bag, but this is the closest I've felt to him in what feels like forever, and I just want _more. _Slowly, I unzip the front pocket of the bag, reaching inside. I feel my hands wrap around his wallet, and I bring it out, turning it over in my hands.

I'd never paid much attention to Percy's wallet before, because when we'd been dating, there'd been no reason to––I'd had _Percy_. But now that I don't have him, I'm amazed at how something as colloquial as a wallet can feel so important.

I flip open the wallet, and as soon as I do, I feel my heart stop.

Tucked into the clear side of the wallet, where someone would normally put their ID, Percy has the photo strip from the day we went in the photo booth at the Santa Monica pier. In the first photo, the two of us look downright ridiculous, Percy with his tongue hanging out, and me with my eyes crossed so far together I'm surprised they didn't stick like that.

In the second one, I'm mimicking a shark, pretending to take a bite out of Percy's head as he jokingly cowers in fear. I smile at the photo, remembering just how happy I'd felt in that moment. I think my copy of the photo strip is stuffed at the bottom of one of my bags, and I haven't seen it in ages, so seeing these photos again is like reliving that moment all over again. It makes me so sad I can hardly breathe.

The fact that he still has this photo in his wallet fills me with a painful hopefulness, which is stupid. He probably just forgot it was there.

In the third photo, Percy and I are laughing ridiculously hard. I remember that we were laughing so much we couldn't even manage to string together a pose. Both of our faces are turning red, but while I'm busy laughing, Percy is staring directly at me, a look of such adoration and love on his face, I wouldn't believe it if the evidence wasn't right in front of me. The way he's looking at me in this photo trumps the way the actors in even the most romantic movies look at each other, because in that photo, his love is so genuine, it's undeniable.

I feel fast tears well up in my eyes, and I let them fall, not even bothering to wipe them away.

In the last photo, Percy sits, smiling like a goofball, as I lean up, gripping his shoulder hard while I kiss his cheek. I remember how much courage it took for me to work up to doing that in that moment, and I laugh sadly through my tears, thinking back on it.

I study the photo strip for a moment longer before closing the wallet back up and returning it to its spot in Percy's backpack.

I need to cherish that moment for what it was, and channel that same courage to help me in catching the person responsible for taking that happiness away from me.

I take a deep breath in, and with a new wave of determination, I continue searching for the key.

When nothing turns up in Jason's room, I make my way into Thalia's room and begin shuffling through the drawers. I find gum wrappers, eyeliner bottles, empty CD cases––who even uses CD's anymore?––and it's only a couple of minutes before I finally find the key too.

I find it in the pocket of Thalia's leather jacket––why am I not surprised?––and when I pull it out, it weighs heavily in my hand. Just as I predicted, the key is this large, obnoxious hunk of metal with a detailed trim and the Grace family crest stamped on the front.

I roll my eyes and slip it into my pocket before heading back to the front door.

I'm careful to leave everything just as I found it (minus the key), and make sure to flick off all the lights before I head back out into the cool night. The sun has completely dipped below the horizon at this point, and I'm thankful for the darkness as I begin making my way out of Thalia, Jason, and Percy's cul de sac.

It only takes me a couple of minutes to get to the Colosseum from there, and it feels absolutely strange as I pass it, heading in the direction of Zeus's house. I've never had any reason to venture this far north of the Colosseum before, and despite the fact that I know there's really no way for me to get caught doing what I'm doing, charting into unknown territory still fills me with a sense of foreboding.

The further I walk, the darker the paths get, the street lamps growing fewer and fewer. I decide to begin walking alongside the road rather than on it, knowing full well that that's where any security cameras would be pointed.

Before I know it, I'm walking through trees and dense foliage, and I'm incredibly thankful for my boots––this wouldn't be a fun trek if I didn't have them. I feel like I've traversed into a completely different land, the thick forestry aesthetic giving no hint to the fact that the road I walk alongside leads up to a world renowned resort.

I know it's just my imagination getting the better of me, but I can't help the chill that runs down my spine as I make my way through the foliage. No wonder Thalia and Jason choose to stay separately from their dad. This place definitely doesn't give off any "homey" vibes.

It's a couple of minutes before I reach the gate, and the moment I see it, I can't help but roll my eyes. Gates are no problem, but they definitely don't make my life any easier. Gates mean climbing which means exposing myself. What an inconvenience.

I make my way around the perimeter, scouting out any security cameras. They appear to have them about every fifteen feet (assuming that they don't have hidden ones as well), which strikes me as absolutely ridiculous. The Graces are rich, but it's not like they're the Windsors.

It takes me a little while to find the section of the gate with the most foliage, and when I do, I head over slowly, making sure I maintain my cover.

As soon as I reach a section I'm comfortable with, I unzip the belt at my waist and take out my pocket knife, pulling down a low hanging branch from a nearby tree and cutting away at its base. The long branch cuts free in seconds, and as soon as it's off, I make sure to rough up the edge that I had cut, making it look like it fell off naturally.

Dragging the branch behind me, I head over to the base of the gate. It's about eight feet tall, which shouldn't be a problem. Keeping myself crouched low in the bushes, I hoist the branch I had cut over my head, swinging it up on top of the gate and positioning it in just the right way so that it blocks the lens of the security camera. I'm glad it's windy tonight, otherwise a branch blowing in front of one of their cameras might've brought up suspicion, but I doubt anyone will pay it any attention.

Maintaining a low posture, I take a couple of steps back before launching off at a running start and jumping up to grip the top of the gate. I grab it with ease, and the grip on my gloves holds tight as I pull myself up. I muster all of my strength to get myself in a straddle position over the top of the gate, and I only take a moment to breathe before flipping my legs over to the other side and dropping down.

Piece of cake.

I pull down the branch behind me and place it carefully on the ground, making sure it's in a spot where I'll be able to find it so that I can block the camera again when I need to get back over.

As I sneak around the side of the house, I'm not too worried about security cameras––they tend to only be around the gate and near the front door. However, you can never be too careful, so I keep low as I head for the back door, pulling the obnoxious house key out of my belt pocket.

The door swings open with ease the moment I slide the key into the lock, and I let out a relieved breath. I don't dare flick the lights on, but I do pull a flashlight out of my belt, turning it on to examine the room.

The place is huge. And when I say huge, I mean _huge_. The house seems to be modeled in a similar style as the resort, with large greek columns and marble floors, and I wouldn't be surprised if my mom was the one who designed it.

The place is gorgeous, with mahogany curtains lining the windows in the hall, and I pass bust after bust of old fashioned art as I make my way down a long Persian rug and into the main room.

My breath catches at the enormity of it all, and I quickly check my watch to see how much time I have to search everything. There's only a couple of hours left before everyone will start heading back from the dinner party.

I better get started.

I do a thorough job of searching the rooms. I've become quite an expert at it at this point, anticipating what kinds of structures might be hiding something. I don't even know what I'm looking for exactly––just something out of place I guess, anything that might hint some sort of involvement with everything that's been going on.

I doubt I'll find anything tonight––I really don't see how Zeus could be behind everything, what with him being completely oblivious to most of the stuff that goes on at the resort––but I do a good job searching anyway. It'll be good practice for when I get to the more intense searches later on of the people I _know _are involved, like the Augurs.

I'm about an hour in before I decide to move to the upstairs, making my way up the cold, white steps. A strange sense of calm has come over me as I work, allowing me to fall into a comfortable routine.

I check the bedrooms, the closets, the bathrooms. I save Zeus's office for last because I know that that's where I'm most likely to find anything of interest, but after searching pretty much everything, I'm not surprised when nothing comes up.

Just as I'd predicted, he's not guilty of anything more than complete ignorance and bad parenting. I roll my eyes, a sudden wave of pity for Jason and Thalia washing over me.

I remember the way that Zeus had sat with his head held high at the expansion meeting Percy and I had snuck into so long ago. How he'd put on a pretense of being this all-knowing, powerful person, yet he couldn't answer a single question without addressing his consultants or the notes he had pre prepared. He probably hadn't even written those notes––he'd probably been spoonfed the lines like a baby. The thought makes me mad. I hate that clueless people so often get credit for brilliant peoples' work just because they happen to be in positions of power.

With a sigh, I close the door to Zeus's office and begin making my way back over to the stairs. I'm tired, and frankly, I've had enough for one day.

I've just made my way down the first three steps, however, when something flashes in a strange gleam of moonlight from the window, catching my eye.

From where I stand on the stairs, I have a direct line of sight into the lower half of Zeus and Hera's bedroom, a room that I already searched thoroughly. But that flash of light…

The reflection of moonlight had come from underneath the dresser––but I'd already checked there and found nothing. I bite my lip in confusion.

That dresser is covered in Hera's jewelry. Maybe an earring or something had dropped under the dresser accidentally and was now reflecting the moonlight? But that didn't make sense. The light had been far too bright to be caused by a reflection from a piece of jewelry.

Part of me wants to investigate it, but the more rational part of my mind says that I'm being stupid––that my nerves are making me read into something that's completely unimportant. I mean, what importance could a flash of light be anyway?

As per usual, though, I ignore the rational part of my brain.

Turning on my heel to head back up the stairs, I check my watch to make sure I still have time. I have about two hours left until the dinner ends––more than enough time.

For the second time tonight, I make my way into Zeus and Hera's bedroom, but instead of searching around this time, I drop to the floor in front of the dresser and shine my flashlight underneath.

Just as I'd found the first time I looked, there's nothing there. I roll my eyes at my own stupidity. Of course there isn't.

Just to double check though, I decide to run my hand along the underbelly of the dresser, feeling around for anything abnormal. I'm just about to pull my hand away, when all of a sudden, my hand passes over something thin and cold.

Quickly, I crouch low and put my flashlight down so that I can snake my other hand under the dresser as well, beginning to slide free the mystery object from where it's notched to the dresser's underbelly.

The moment I pull the object out from underneath the dresser bottom, I gasp.

It's a laptop.

I open it quickly, my curiosity taking over.

The screen flashes on, and I'm shocked to see that the laptop isn't password protected. Why would someone go to all the trouble of hiding their laptop like that and not even put a passcode on it?

I don't have time to think too much on it though, because the moment I read the names of the computer's desktop files, everything falls into place.

I think I'm going to puke.

The files contain everything from environmental test result forgeries, to side payment plans from anonymous donors, to the blueprints for the pipeline dumping system and records of bribing city officials to keep quiet about it all. And they're all under one name.

Hera.

I make my way through the documents one by one, my mind going more and more slack with each word I read.

Hera is the one who's been behind everything. She's the brains behind the operation––always has been––secretly running things under the pretense of being Zeus's useless trophy wife.

I comb through the files, my heartbeat accelerating.

She's been running the resort since day one, handling both the business and economic sides of things. I guess at some point along the line she saw an opportunity for financial gain in taking environmental shortcuts, and went ahead with plans to create the pipeline system to dispose of the resort's waste in a more affordable, but environmentally damning, way.

My pulse quickens with each line I scan––about the wealthy investors like the Augurs who made it possible, and all of the other people involved. I feel like I'm going to be sick when I read about the lengths that were gone to to cover it all up.

Shit, shit, shit.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

I needed to get proof of this... and fast.

I decide not to send anything to myself via the laptop––even the most extensive steps to cover up my tracks could be uncovered with the right resources. Instead, I pull out a tiny disposable camera I have stashed in my side belt and begin taking pictures of everything the old fashioned way.

I try to get through everything as quickly as I can, snapping picture after picture. Even though I know I have ample time left, I can't help but feeling terrified now that I've actually uncovered something.

I hadn't expected to find anything here tonight, and now that I have, I feel completely taken aback. _Stupid! _

The moment I finish with the pictures, I shut the computer closed as fast as I can and slide it back into its place under the dresser. I stand up as quickly as possible, heart racing, and head over to the nightstand on the other side of the room, where a landline phone sits on display.

As much as I wish that the photos could be enough to be sufficient damning evidence, I know that to really think that would just be ignorant. The Graces have access to some of the best lawyers in the world. If I try to turn Hera in with a couple of photos from a digital camera, they'd try to mark me as an uncredible source because I obtained the evidence while breaking and entering. Not to mention that I could've forged all of these documents on my own and simply taken a picture of them.

No, in order for Hera to be punished for everything, she needs to be caught redhanded by the authorities.

My hand shakes as I dial 911.

I can barely feel my legs as I pull the phone up to my ear.

The phone rings for half a second. "This is 911, what's your emergency?"

"Hello," I say into the phone, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. "I'm currently at 600 Olympus Drive at the Olympus Resort in Los Angeles. I'd like to report a felony."

There's no response. The line sounds dead.

"Hello?" I try again.

An eerie chill takes over the room, and a sudden wave of dread washes over me.

"I thought I told you to stop snooping around," a light voice rings from behind me. "Why'd you have to go and make this messy."

Phone still in hand, I quickly whip around to find Hera standing in a shimmering white evening gown, her dark hair cascading down her back. She appears relaxed as she dangles the unplugged phone cord between her hands, and it sends waves of fear quaking through me. Hera looks impossibly terrifying in the darkness of the room, the moonlight giving her a ghostly glow. I look down and see that she has one healed foot hovering over my disposable camera, which I left on the ground next to my flashlight and other stuff. I don't know how on earth she snuck up behind me like that without me hearing her, but in that moment it doesn't matter. I read about all the lengths she went to to cover this stuff up.

I'm fucked.

"You––" I start to say, but before I can finish my thought, Hera brings her heel down on my camera. I barely have time to scream before I'm grabbed from behind.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Percy POV

The only thought going through my head as I take my first bite of calamari is that rich people food fucking sucks. I don't care what my mom might say about it being a delicacy––if I wanted to eat rubber I'd go bite a tire.

Tonight is the first night in over a week that I've left my room, and even then, I wouldn't have come if I wasn't forced to. I haven't felt much like doing anything lately. It's like a dull layer of dust has settled everything, making it seem worn and unappealing. The world just isn't as bright without _her _in it.

I place my fork on the table, suddenly feeling sick. And the feeling has nothing to do with the calamari.

It's been days, and I still can't stop replaying the events of that night in my head…the way Annabeth had told me that we needed to break up––that she didn't love me.

I put my head in my hands, not caring how it looks to the people around me. I just need a moment to collect myself.

It just didn't make any sense. I _felt _that Annabeth loved me––with every fiber of my being. I was sure of it. So why did she tell me she didn't?

I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, you good?"

I take my head out of my hands and turn to Thalia, forcing a smile. "Never better."

She just looks at me sadly. It's _blatantly _obvious I'm lying, but Thalia doesn't press it. I think she's too afraid that I'll retreat into my room and not come out for a week again if she does. So instead, she decides to change the topic with her usual deflectiveness.

"Jason, you should try the calamari," she says, turning away from me to face her brother, who sits across the table from us. Thalia's expression turns evil. "It's delicious."

Jason narrows his eyes at her. "I think I'll pass."

Thalia goes on to try to bode Jason into consuming squid, and I try to drain out the sound of her voice as she does. I try to drain out the sound of the room. Everything is too loud and too bright, and I begin to feel very claustrophobic, like I'm taking up too much space.

I wrap my arms around my stomach, hugging myself to try to keep myself together.

Just a little while longer.

I look around the room to distract myself.

The event space is this incredibly modern looking sub room in the colosseum with white walls and square pillars. It's darkly lit, and everyone is dressed in dark shaded cocktail attire. It looks like someone put a black and white filter over the room.

The room is occupied by dozens of small circular dinner tables, most of which are only half full since a majority of the people in the room are making their way to different tables to mingle. The room reminds me of a bee hive, its occupants buzzing about, treating the event like it's some sort of career mixer. At events like this it's acceptable to do that later in the night near the end of the dinner, after you've sat down with your family for at least a couple of hours.

Right now it's just Thalia, Jason, and me sitting at our table. My dad dipped to go talk to some of his buddies from the Marine Biodiversity Center, and Zeus is a couple of tables over, sipping champagne and regurgitating some nonsense about making sensible business investments. Most of it's probably BS, but it's not like I'd be able to tell the difference.

The only thing that's a little bit strange about tonight is that Hera isn't by Zeus's side, lightly touching his shoulder and giggling like a school girl while he talks. About halfway into dinner she got an alert on her phone and dashed off without telling anyone where she was going. That's definitely unusual for her––Hera usually cares too much about public image to leave her family looking like a divided front, but I assume that she probably had to tend to some resort related business.

Most of the other people at this event I couldn't really give a shit about, which is why Thalia, Jason, and I haven't gone off to socialize with anyone.

Even though it's pathetic as hell, if I'm being honest with myself, I think I only managed to drag myself out of my room tonight because I had a sliver of hope that Annabeth would be here. That she'd see me and pull me aside to talk and apologize, giving me some explanation about why she did what she did, telling me that she regretted it.

I probably played out the scene a million times in my head, letting it drive me to pull myself out of bed and get dressed up. I know it doesn't make any sense considering how badly Annabeth hurt me, but I don't think I would've had the strength to go out if there hadn't been some part of me that was hoping she'd be here.

But she's not.

I spotted Athena a little while back, sitting with a couple other people in her department. She looked calm and put together as usual, but for the first time, looking at her didn't make me nervous. It just made me sad.

I'm really surprised that Athena didn't make Annabeth come tonight. I know how much of a stickler she is about Annabeth attending these kinds of things, and I wonder why tonight was an exception. Maybe Annabeth just blatantly refused, knowing that she'd run into me if she came. The thought makes me feel empty inside, like someone has cleared out the contents of my body with a high power vacuum.

Thalia places her hand on my shoulder for the second time tonight, shaking me out of my daze. I look up to see her and Jason looking at me sadly, as if I'm some sort of wounded animal or something. They must've been talking to me, and I was just too out of it to hear them.

"Let's head back," Jason says, biting his lip. "The dinner's almost over, and since Hera isn't here, no one will notice if we dip out early."

I nod my head slowly, thankful.

We all begin to stand, and as I turn around to grab my jacket off the back of my chair, I don't miss the sad look Thalia shoots Jason. It makes me feel weak and mad, but there's nothing I can do about it except put on my jacket. Once it's on, Thalia wraps her arm in mine and we make our way to the door.

* * *

It's about eleven by the time we get back to our cul de sac. I don't even bother going to my own room––I just head straight for Jason and Thalia's, knowing that I'd rather have them with me right now than be alone.

Thalia decides that we should all watch a show together in the hopes that it'll get my mind of off everything, and Jason agrees almost instantly. That's the one good thing that seems to be coming out of my breakup––Jase and Thals seem to be agreeing on stuff more frequently than ever.

Thalia heads off to her room to change into more comfortable clothes before we settle down, and I head into Jason's room with him, wanting to get out of my suit and into some sweats.

"Here." Jason tosses my bag to me the moment we're through the door.

I catch it with ease and riffle through it for a minute, trying to find my sweats, before peeling off my suit. Jason gives me a hanger to hang it up with, and I'm glad to be rid of it as I slip on a pair of cozy grey sweatpants and my red lifeguard sweatshirt from work.

The moment the sweatshirt is on, however, I stop short, my heart skipping a beat.

Very slowly, I take in a deep breath, pulling my sweatshirt up to my face to inhale its scent. A chill runs down my spine.

I must be going crazier than I thought, because the sweatshirt smells exactly like Annabeth. Her scent is branded in my memory, but I breathe in again, just to make sure.

Yes. Definitely her.

The sweatshirt smells like a mix between Annabeth's natural scent and the lavender shampoo she always wears. It makes me unbelievably sad, and the emotion seems to come over me in a crushing wave.

Why would my sweatshirt smell like Annabeth? Had she ever even worn it before?

I close my eyes and hold the sweatshirt close to my face, breathing in the scent of it.

"Dude," Jason says. My eyes shoot open at the sound of his voice. Jason stands in front of me, newly changed into sweats himself, an eyebrow cocked in my direction. "What are you doing?" he asks hesitantly. "Look, I know you're going through some stuff right now Perce, but this is just a whole other level of weird."

"It smells like her," I say dryly. "I don't even think she's worn it before, and it still smells like her."

Jason's face grows deeply sad, and I try not to let his look of pity get to me. He quickly wraps his arm around me and leads me out of his bedroom. "Come on man."

Jason and I sit on the couch and begin to sift through shows as we wait for Thalia (it takes girls about a million years to get out of formal clothes). After a couple of minutes, we decide to start rewatching Shameless since it's been about a year since our last re-watch.

"Thals we're gonna start without you!" Jason teases from the couch.

"If you do I'll skin you alive!" Thalia shouts back, making me laugh. The sound of it startles me, which is just sad. You know you've really hit a low point in your life when the sound of your own happiness comes as a shocker to you.

After a minute, Thalia enters the living room. At first I don't notice it because of the spring in her step, but she has a confused look painted on her face as she walks.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

She shrugs, coming to sit on the other side of me. "Nothing really. I just can't find the key to dad's house." She shakes her head. "I could've _sworn_ I left it in the pocket of my jacket."

"I wouldn't get too worked up," Jason pipes. "You don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to remembering where you put things."

Thalia leans across me to elbow him, and Jason immediately goes into a fit of rubbing his arm.

"That may be _slightly _true," Thalia says. "But I just remember putting it there so _vividly_." She shrugs again, taking the remote from Jason's hand. "Guess I was wrong."

Thalia leans back, opening the show, and is about to click play when something in the corner of the room catches my eye.

I grab her hand.

Thalia follows my gaze, and when her eyes land on where I'm looking, she sighs. "Oh."

In the corner, sitting tucked away, is none other than Annabeth's backpack. And I swear I'm not imagining it this time.

"Wh––why do you have that?" I stutter, trying to make my voice sound casual and uncaring. I fail.

Thalia grimaces. "I forgot about that. I was hoping you wouldn't see it. I ran into Annabeth at the library the other day, and she left her bag there. I haven't worked up the courage to bring it back to her yet."

I stare at the backpack, unmoving. "Sh––she just left it there?" I ask, my voice curt. "That's not like her. And why didn't you tell me you ran into her?"

Thalia meets Jason's eyes across my lap, and I can tell they've already had a conversation about this.

Thalia turns to me, treading lightly. It's so weird to see Thalia like this with me––gentle and skirting around things. It makes me feel like I've disturbed the laws of nature.

"I didn't want to upset you," she says.

I feel a sudden anger bubble up in me, which is unfair––she was only trying to be conscious of my feelings, but I can't help it.

"Annabeth came into the library––" Thalia continues. "She was probably looking for a book or something. She seemed pretty shocked when she saw me––I guess she forgot about my shift…" Thalia trails off and looks at Jason again, almost asking with her eyes whether she should proceed or not.

"What happened?" I press, wanting to hear. I shouldn't be this eager––it can't be healthy for me, and no doubt Thalia is thinking the same thing. But I can't help it. Any news on Annabeth is like a breath of air––even if that air happens to be toxic for me.

"I, uh...well...I kind of went off on her," Thalia says. "Hard."

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest, but I'm not sure how to feel about it. Happy that I have a cousin who's willing to jump to my defense? Upset that she's fighting my battles for me? Or on the opposite spectrum: protective of Annabeth?

Man, could that be any more pathetic…

"Then what happened?" I ask, unable to help myself.

Thalia looks to Jason again, and it takes every fiber of my being to keep myself from grabbing her and making her face me.

"It was weird…" Thalia says, her face growing a strange mix of pensive and confused. "She was...pretty upset." She looks up at me, her eyebrows drawn together. I can tell she's waiting for some sort of reaction, but I don't know that I have one to give.

Thalia leans back into the couch, pressing on. "It was like what I was saying was really hurting her, which doesn't make any sense considering all I did was chew her out for hurting you." Thalia shakes her head as she speaks, trying to reason her way through the situation. "She was like...crying...like she was the one who had just been broken up with. It was _super _weird." Thalia throws her hands up. "And then she just apologized and ran out."

I soak up the information like an overeager sponge, my mind desperately clinging to any information that might indicate that Annabeth still loves me. It's toxic and pathetic, but I can't help it. Emotions aren't governed by reason.

Why would Annabeth be so upset at running into Thalia like that––about hearing Thalia go on about the break up? It's not like she was the one who got dumped.

I place my head in my hands, my mind becoming a confused, jumbled mess.

This fruitless hope is almost more painful than the reality that Annabeth might not love me, and I get why Thalia didn't want to tell me about the encounter. It would've been easier to put the whole situation to rest––cut of the wounded part of me and be done with it. But I think that the both of us have too much hope for my relationship to let that happen, and now it's left me stranded in this unbearably painful limbo.

I place my hands down and lean back into the couch, determined to distract myself. "Let's get this rewatch started," I say, forcing a smile. From the looks on their faces, I can tell that Thalia and Jason don't buy that I'm taking this information with ease, but they don't press it. I think they know it's too painful for me to delve into.

Jason reaches across my lap and snatches the remote back from Thalia. "Let's get this rewatch started," he repeats, and leans back, pressing play on the remote.

* * *

I wake up in the middle of the night, my body coated in a hot sweat. I don't know what time it is, but I can tell it's super late because when I turn my head towards the window to look out over the resort, there's not a light on in sight.

I shift minimally, trying not to move around too much. At my feet, Thalia lies curled up, her head across my shins as she sleeps. Jason lies just above my head on the long part of the couch, and I'm careful to be as still as possible as I peel my blanket back, welcoming the cool air on my skin.

Despite the fact that my body feels like it's burning, I feel cold emotionally––empty. The dark room matches my mood: shadows and sharp edges. I can only tune my feelings out for so long before they come creeping back in, painfully stronger because of the build up.

I turn my head to the side, trying to get comfortable so that I can fall back asleep, but my eye catches on Annabeth's bag in the corner, and a whole new wave of pain engulfs me.

I grind my teeth hard, trying to will away my hurt, but it's no use. The hard pit in my stomach grows and grows, and pretty soon, I have silent tears falling down my face.

Annabeth's bag mocks me from the corner, but I can't seem to turn away from it. I breathe in the scent of my sweatshirt, closing my eyes.

After a while, I manage to fall back asleep. But not without tortuous thoughts of _her_ occupying every inch of space in my mind.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Percy POV

We wake to the sound of a knock on the door. Thalia groans, rolling onto my legs.

"Hey!" I screech.

Thalia doesn't seem to take notice of my pain. She just pulls her blanket up over her head and flops over onto her other side.

The three of us had fallen asleep on the couch last night, and it's definitely showing. We all have bags under our eyes and birds' nests for hair. Not to mention, the calamari isn't sitting well.

There's another knock on the door, and Jason hops up off the couch, rushing to straighten his hair with his hands. "One minute!" He calls out.

Slowly, I begin to sit up. I follow suit and begin to fold up the blankets on the couch, trying to make them look as presentable as possible. Jason fluffs up a couple of pillows before straightening, satisfied, and making his way to the door.

I follow behind him with one last glance back at Thalia, who hasn't moved an inch. Of course.

When Jason reaches the door, he runs his hand through his hair one last time before turning the knob, and stepping back to let the door swing open.

As soon as I see who's there, though, I wish he'd close it again.

I had been expecting it to be Zeus or my dad coming to check on us, or even Hera coming to chew us out for leaving the dinner early last night. But it's not. It's not anyone I would've expected to come knocking in a thousand years.

Behind the door stands Athena, standing tall and regal in her usual business attire. Her blond hair––so much like Annabeth's it hurts––curls over her shoulders in delicate waves, and upon seeing me, her expression is startled, and a little bit confused. I'm sure her expression matches my own, but it's a look I'm so not used to seeing on her face that it's a little off-putting.

"I––" Athena starts, swallowing hard. "I came to speak to Thalia. Is she here right now?"

I want to speak––to say something, anything––but I can't. It's like someone has stuffed my throat with cotton. Thankfully, Jason breaks the silence.

"Thalia!" He yells over his shoulder. "Uh...someone's here to see you!"

Thalia doesn't move, however, and Jason quickly apologizes before dipping off to wake her up, leaving me alone with Athena. The moment Jason steps away, Athena fixes me with a gaze. It isn't accusatory or judgemental––just observatory. It doesn't intimidate me the way it once might have. It just makes me sad and confused. Her eyes are the same grey as Annabeth's, and they carry in them the same ever-churning curiosity. I don't know if Athena knows about the breakup, but it's getting hard for me to look at her––painful, even. I quickly look away.

Jason strolls up behind me, Thalia's arm wrapped through his own. She's awake, but it's clear she just got up, her spiky hair reaching out in about a thousand directions. She fixes Athena with a glare. I doubt she means to, but Thalia has never been great at concealing her emotions.

"Wh––" she starts. Thalia has also never been very great at articulation. "What...do you need something?" She asks.

Athena swallows. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She straightens, regaining her composure. "I was just––" She glances once at me before continuing. "I was just wondering if you'd seen Annabeth lately? I know that you two haven't been hanging out as much recently, but I just thought I'd swing by and ask. She isn't in her room, and she hasn't been answering her phone, and I just wanted to come by and see if you'd seen her."

"Is she okay?" I ask, urgently. The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, but I can't help it.

Athena nods her head dismissively. "Oh, I'm sure she's fine. She probably just stayed the night with one of her other friends and forgot to charge her phone."

Jason and Thalia exchange side glances, and I can tell that they're both thinking the same thing as me––that as far as we knew, Annabeth didn't have any other friends here. None of us say anything about it, though.

"I'm sorry," Thalia says. "We haven't seen her." I can tell she's trying to mask it, but there's a hint of bitterness in her voice as she says the words––like her concern for Annabeth and Athena is battling for dominance on a teeter totter with the feelings of hurt and betrayal that Annabeth brought about. I can relate to the feeling.

"We'll let you know if we see her, though," Jason adds.

Athena nods her head. "Thank you."

She begins to turn away, but as she does, she shoots one last glance in my direction, and it's like she's trying to gage all she can of me as quickly as she can in that brief moment before she turns back and makes her way down the path.

Jason slides the door shut, and Thalia begins making her way into the kitchen, but I can't help but stand there for a minute, my heart pounding.

Jason lends me a worried glance. "You good?"

I nod and force a smile, turning away from him to follow Thalia into the kitchen.

"That was so weird," Thalia says, pulling a bowl from the cupboard. She proceeds to pour a mountain of fruit loops in, and then drowns them in milk.

"Do you think something's wrong?" I ask, trying to keep my voice neutral. "I can't think of anyone else Annabeth would be staying with." Her name hangs on my lips the same way the sting lingers after you drink something hot.

"Doubt it," Thalia says nonchalantly. She takes a bit of her cereal. "Annabeth is probably just trying to avoid her mom. There's always something going on between those two."

What Thalia says makes sense, but I can't help the fact that something about it doesn't sit right with me. It just doesn't seem like Annabeth to be irresponsible about keeping her phone charged and to be careless enough to keep her mom worrying, no matter the circumstance. Then again, I obviously don't know Annabeth as well as I thought.

"Do you have work today?" Jason asks me over the counter, changing the subject.

I nod my head, straightening up. "Yeah, I should probably head down there. Meet you guys later?"

Jason and Thals nod, and with that, I'm off––making my way to the door in an attempt to return my life to some semblance of normalcy.

* * *

It's a brutally hot day, but it goes by remarkably fast, and I watch the sun travel across the sky in a slow pursuit––waiting for it to dip towards the ocean the same way one waits for fish to take bait. It's a pleasant wait. A voluntary one. One that prefaces something good. And for the first time in days, I feel warmth seep into my skin, reminding me of the touching embrace of light.

As I sit in the colosseum pool lifeguard chair, the warmth of the setting sun makes me miss my mom, and there's part of me that's glad that the summer is coming to an end because it means that I'll be able to see her again. I can't help but feel that she'd understand what I'm going through right now more than anyone.

I love being here at the resort––being by the beach, hanging with my dad, having freedom like I've never had before in my life...but without _her, _a sadness looms over it all, making me long for the familiarity of home.

When the sun finally sets, marking the end of my shift, I head to the locker room to change before making my way up to the colosseum library to meet Jason and Thals. Thalia's shift gets out a little later than mine, so we decided that we'd meet there before heading out to dinner. We were thinking of going into town to grab some food, and I'm honestly looking forward to it. It's been a while since I went out.

As I round the corner of one of the lobby's many halls, turning into the library, I'm greeted by none other than Jason and Thalia bickering. It's good to see them being normal again. The eerie companionship and compassion was getting a little unsettling.

"Jason. It looks ridiculous," Thalia says shaking her head. "How am I supposed to go into public with you when you're set on looking like _that?"_

She does have a point, though. Jason has on a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt, covered sleeve to sleeve in flamingoes.

Jason looks hurt. "I like this shirt."

"Then we really need to get your head checked," I joke, strolling up.

Jason just purses his lips. "You guys have no taste."

Thalia shoots me a grin and gives Jason a sarcastic shrug. "You know what, Jase, you're absolutely right." She turns around to grab her things from behind the counter. "Let's get going."

I'm just about to offer to take one of her bags, but when I notice whose it is, I take a step back.

"Why do you have that?" I ask. Thalia glances at Annabeth's bag between her arms like it's a ticking bomb.

"I thought I'd drop it off at her room on the way to dinner," she says. "I'm tired of looking at it."

I swallow. "Okay." Jason shoots her a glare, which looks ridiculous coupled with the flamingos.

"Really Thals? You couldn't have waited till a time when we weren't with Percy?"

She glances at me apologetically. "I'm sorry Percy. I didn't think about it." She sounds genuinely upset, and I shoot her the most forgiving smile I can.

"Don't sweat it," I say. "We'll just drop it off on the way out of the resort."

As soon as we reach the parking lot, we pile into Thalia's car. Usually, I'd get in the back, but this time Jason ended up getting stuck there, Thalia claiming that his shirt would distract her too much while driving if he sat in the front.

Thalia pulls out of her space (narrowly missing the Tesla that happens to be parked behind us), and makes her way out of the lot onto the main road of the resort.

"You know what," Jason says after a couple seconds of silence. "Her phone could be in the bag."

"Whose what? Thalia asks dumbly.

Jason rolls his eyes. "Annabeth's phone. It could be in her bag, and that's why her mom hasn't been able to reach her."

Thalia cocks her head to the side. "Huh. You might be right."

"But you've had her bag for days," I say. "Wouldn't she have noticed it was gone?"

"Oh, I'm sure she has," Thalia says, "but she probably doesn't remember where she left it––might even think it was stolen. Why don't you check her bag Jason––it's on the seat next to you. If her phone really is in the bag, we shouldn't just leave it on her doorstep."

"Isn't that like a violation of her privacy?" I ask as Jason pulls Annabeth's bag up onto his lap behind me.

"If her phone really is in there, I'm sure she'd be more glad than affronted if we look through her bag."

What she says makes sense, and I think that the real reason I'm resisting checking Annabeth's bag for her phone is because I don't want to have any reason to knock on her door––to see her in person. I'm just starting to be able to breathe again, and I'm afraid that would just be too much for me. But if it's possible her phone really has been in her bag this whole time, I know that Thalia is right––it would be wrong not to make sure.

I roll down my window and stick my hand out, trying to take in the feeling of the world around me to distract myself. I let the brush of the salty air pull me away for just a moment, taking me out of the car to someplace different. But I'm pulled back abruptly by the sound of Jason's voice.

"Guys," he says. His tone is hard, a semblance of panic peaking through it's cracks.

"What?" Thalia says, turning right onto a sidestreet. The resort looks deserted, the only thing marking our paths the solitary line of street lamps.

Jason doesn't respond for a moment, and I glance back at him, turning to find his expression has turned white. He holds a crumpled paper in his hand, and his eyes look pale as they scan the page. His adam's apple bobs up and down harshly as he breathes.

I feel panic spark in the pit of my stomach, though I have no idea what it could be for.

"What?" I ask him urgently.

Jason's expression as he tilts his head up at me is terrified. "Percy," he starts, treading cautiously, but I rip the paper out of his hands before he can say anything else, quickly pulling it open in my lap.

Despite being wrinkled, the page is typed out neatly in typewriter font, only a couple of lines scrawled across the page.

_Annabeth chase, we know what you've been up to. _

_Drop it now. _

_No more snooping. No more sneaking onto property. No more sneaking into meetings. _

_Don't tell anyone else._

_If you do, we will find out, and you will pay the ultimate price. _

_So will they._

_We're not afraid to get our hands dirty. _

Taped below the words is one of Annabeth's grey owl earrings. It must be the one I remember her telling me she lost so long ago.

I feel panic boil up in my throat, making it hard to breathe.

"What? What is it, Percy?" Thalia asks, her voice desperately worried.

But I can't answer her. I can't speak.

"Percy," Jason says, "that could be anything. We don't even know what it means. There's no need to get worried."

But he doesn't know.

Jason doesn't know about the confidential files with the forged environmental tests that Annabeth dug up in her mom's office. Jason doesn't know about the meeting that Annabeth and I snuck into, where she impersonated someone with knowledge of the whole situation to investigate the scandal. Jason doesn't know about the pipelines we found in the caves––the ones that run miles and miles out into the ocean to dump waste instead of disposing of it properly.

"Percy––" Jason tries to reason again, but I'm hyperventilating at this point, and the roaring in my ears blocks out my senses.

"No," I choke out. "No, you don't know––"

_Don't tell anyone else._

_If you do, we will find out, and you will pay the ultimate price. _

_So will they._

And the reality of the situation hits me like a tidal wave. Annabeth's expression in the moment she called off our relationship comes back to me––how there'd been so much love in her eyes even as she broke up with me.

She broke up with me _because _she loved me. Not in spite of it.

She had broken up with me to protect me from this threat. She'd chosen to give up me, her friends, her social life, and face this looming threat all alone because she'd felt it was in my best interest.

She did love me. She always did.

My heart aches with the pain of the situation, but that pain is dwarfed by the fear I feel for her––for this girl who in such a short amount of time had come to mean the world to me.

_We're not afraid to get our hands dirty. _

I feel like I'm going to be sick.

"Oh my gods," I choke out.

"Percy, what is going on!" Thalia shouts. I can tell she's terrified, but I can't even form a coherent thought, let alone a sentence to explain.

"Thalia, drive faster." I spit. She looks at me like I'm crazy. "DRIVE FASTER!" I shout.

She does.

I begin to rock back and forth in my seat, trying to calm myself. _She's fine, _I tell myself. _She received this note, and it freaked her out, so she ran off without telling anyone, but she's fine. _

The moment Thalia pulls up in front of Annabeth's room, I launch myself out of the car and to the front door.

"Annabeth!" I shout, pounding on the door.

Jason and Thalia run up behind me, and I'm vaguely aware of him filling her in on the contents of the note, but I can barely hear them over the roaring in my ears.

I can't help but think back to right after Annabeth and I found the pipelines in the caves––how we were going to come clean to our parents and the authorities about the whole situation because it had gone way too far out of control. I'd forgotten about the whole thing ever since the breakup...I hadn't even spared it a thought. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her because of that.

"Annabeth!" I shout again, pounding harder on the door.

"Percy!" Thalia says, placing a hand on my shoulder to calm me. "She's probably just out. I wouldn't read into that letter too much. We don't even know what it means––" I turn on her.

"BUT I DO!" I shout. "Thalia, I––I didn't tell you. I didn't think it was important––"

Jason senses the severity in my tone. "Percy, what are you talking about?" I pause, trying to calm myself, but it's nearly impossible.

"Annabeth and I––" I choke out. "We discovered––we discovered that there are some people at the resort who are involved in some sort of environmental scandal––dumping waste into the ocean. They must've figured out that she knew and sent her that letter."

There's a moment of silence in which they both stare at me.

"Oh my gods," Jason says. Thalia grips my hand as I try to get my breathing under control, but her own expression is a whirlwind of emotions. After a moment, she takes a deep breath.

"We don't know for sure that anything happened to her. Let's just go inside and take a look around, alright?"

I nod my head slowly, my heart rate calming slightly.

Jason looks around and points to the right. "That window is cracked. We can get in that way."

Thalia nods her head. "Good idea."

Jason leads the way through the foliage, and Thals and I follow close behind. He slides the window wide, and the three of us step through into Annabeth's living room. The whole space is completely dark, and there's not a light on in sight.

Even when we were dating, I'd only been in Annabeth's room a couple of times because we hadn't wanted anyone to get the wrong idea, but the familiarity of the place still sends aches to my stomach.

Thalia flips on the light, and the three of us begin searching the room. We look through drawers, under cushions, in the medicine cabinet, in her closet, but nothing seems to be askew. We even go as far as to check under the carpet and behind the curtains––nothing.

We're standing by the side of Annabeth's bed in a semicircle when I put my head in my hands, defeated.

"Percy, she probably just got freaked out by the letter and went to stay with someone else," Thalia suggests.

I turn on her.

"With whom, Thalia? Who could she possibly be staying with?" My voice is vile, and I hate it, but it's like someone has unleashed a dam, and millions of gallons of frustration and guilt are finally pouring out. "Not her mom," I spit. "We know that. And it sure as hell isn't her friends. No we all turned on her––it was probably one of the hardest moments in her life and we didn't even try to see things from her perspective. She broke up with me to _protect _me."

Tears have started to well up in Thalia's eyes, and she frantically wipes them away. I know it's not fair of me to be saying these things, but it's like I can't control it.

"Maybe she's staying with her dad," Jason tries to reason. I laugh cruelly.

"Right," I retort. "Her dad. Who wasn't there for her when he needed her most, who never cared enough about her to see things from her point of view––" my voice breaks. "I'm just as bad as him."

Tears have started running down my face now, and I don't even try to wipe them away. I lean back against the wall next to Annabeth's bed and slide to the floor, trying to control my breathing again.

Jason comes and sits by me, placing a hand on my shoulder comfortingly while Thalia remains by the window, looking out of it as tears run down her face as well.

We remain like that for several moments, our silence connecting us and bridging the rifts that had just been created. Thalia comes to sit by me and takes my hand.

"I'm sorry," I tell her. She just shakes her head that it's okay and leans on my shoulder.

"We have to tell her mom about the note," Jason says after a moment.

Thalia nods her head. "Yeah. Yeah we do––" her voice breaks off.

At first, I think that Thalia has begun crying again, but as soon as she sits up, I see a gleam in her eye that wasn't there a moment before.

"What?" I ask. "What is it?"

Slowly, she lifts her hand, pointing to the headboard of the bed. "Do you see that?"

Since I'm sitting so close to the bedpost, I see what she's referring to almost immediately. Tucked being Annabeth's bed is a large suitcase, which wouldn't be strange in and of itself, except this suitcase has been sealed shut with a lock. I quickly stand up to check it out.

Together, Thalia and I pull the suitcase from behind the bed and place it on the ground in front of us.

"We need to get this open," I say.

Thalia gives me a look. "No shit."

The lock is one of those five letter code ones, and Thalia and I begin doing every combination we can think of to get it open. We try her last name, a couple of her favorite authors, and even some monuments and architects she likes. Then we try spelling all of them backwards because it's exactly the kind of thing Annabeth would do, but we come up with nothing.

Our initial panic is gone now, replaced by a complete and utter drive. We're both dead set on getting this suitcase open, even if we're here all night.

Thalia and I are just about to begin trying our next list of possible passcodes, however, when Jason reaches over and takes the suitcase from us.

"Hey!" Thalia protests. Jason ignores her. He begins to twist the letters on the lock.

"Jason, I appreciate it, man, but you really don't know her as well as we do––" I begin to say, when all of a sudden, the lock clicks, and Jason pulls it off, a knowing smile on his face.

Thalia turns on him. "What was it?"

Slowly, Jason looks at me, smiling sadly. "Your name."

A whole new wave of sadness pools over me, and I have to put in a good amount of effort to keep myself from tearing up again. That was just a nail in the coffin.

Thalia, Jason, and I lift the suitcase up onto the bed and circle around it, bracing ourselves for what we might find inside.

I look up at my cousins, these two amazing people who have been here for me through thick and thin, and I couldn't be more grateful to have them. Both of their sets of beautiful blue eyes meet mine, and I take a breath.

We open the suitcase.


End file.
